By Oluwabukola AKanni
Ibadan – The Oyo State House of Assembly on Tuesday called for the return of counsellors in schools in the state.
This followed a motion by Mr Olusegun Ajanaku (APC-Ibadan South-West II) entitled : “The Need For Career Guidance Counsellors in Secondary Schools (Government and Private) in Oyo State.’’
Ajanaku said that counselling would enhance the human capability to solve problems as well as make decisions.
“Counsellors play prominent roles in curbing prevalent educational social menace such as examination malpractice, absenteeism and hooliganism.
“Educational guidance, counselling services and career development services are relevant, required and needed in all public and private junior and senior secondary schools in the state.
“It will help students fulfill their aspirations and integrate better into the society,” he said.
Contributing, Mrs Bimbo Oladeji (LP-Ogbomosho North) said the return of counsellors would help raise the falling standard of education in the state.
Mr Joshua Oyebamiji (APC-Akinyele I) said counselling was needed to enhance students’ performance and boost the school system.
He disclosed that there were over 700 counsellors in the 558 schools in the state.
While noting that the accepted counsellor-student ratio stood at 1:250, Oyebamiji called for a redistribution, saying many were not engaged in the primary duty of counselling.
Ruling on the matter, the Speaker of the House, Mr Michael Adeyemo, called on the Ministry of Education to ensure that counsellors were relieved of other duties so that they could concentrate on core counselling services to students.
The speaker also urged the ministry to ensure effective monitoring of private schools to ensure they complied with the directive.
He further called for the training and re-training of professional counsellors in schools across the state.
More professional counsellors, he added, should be engaged in schools while they should be restricted to professional counselling.