Call to strengthen child counselling facilities in Thiruvananthapuram

On paper, there is an elaborate set of schemes and counselling facilities for children in the State being implemented by various State and Union government departments. And yet, there is virtually no database that can be referred to on the nature of problems children report to school counsellors, the frequency with which they are, the number of cases and how they are managed.

Without such basic information, it is difficult to monitor the work of counsellors and address the gaps in the system to build a more supportive environment for children here. Timely submission of reports by personnel on the ground and resource sharing between the various agencies involved in counselling for children were some of the key requirements made during a consultation on strengthening counselling facilities in schools, child care homes and institutions for the differently-abled children organised by the Kerala State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (KSCPCR) here on Thursday.

Going by the disturbing cases of assault on children, some as young as three years old, perpetrated by members of their immediate family shows that a child could trust nobody and a proper counselling system in schools, supported by subsequent psychotherapy sessions is pivotal in healing them, said Minister of Rural Development and Culture K.C. Joseph. He said the government would study the suggestions put forward.

District Coordinator of the Career Guidance and Adolescent Counselling Cell in Kannur, N. Rajesh, made a presentation on the status of counselling in schools which revealed that there were activities undertaken by the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, National Mental Health Programme, the State Education, Health and Social Justice Departments. Despite this apparent scale of programmes, there is a host of problems that needs to be tackled first before signs of improvement can emerge, said Mr. Rajesh.

Dearth of experienced counsellors, poor referral system, the persistent stigma associated with getting counselling and the lack of a socio-economic and culture specific modalities to dealing with cases were among the issues discussed.

The Director of the Child Development Centre, M.K.C. Nair, stressed on the importance of counsellors’ role and the need to train them in both mental health and reproductive health counselling. There must be a clinical psychologist stationed, ideally, in every education district and visits must be arranged for counsellors to institutions for the differently-abled, he added. Other suggestions included stepping up the role of local self-governments.