PROSPECTS OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING SERVICES

IN THE EDUCATION SYSTEM OF PAKISTAN

1. Introduction. The concept of guidance is as old as human race. Allah

Almighty has sent one hundred twenty four thousands Prophets for guidance of
people. The history of the human race tells us that the need for some sort of
guidance and counseling, especially for young ones has always been felt. This need
however became more severe and more pressing due to growing complexity of the
modes of living and other complications associated with it. Both Parents and
teachers, therefore, should understand fully the need for adequate guidance and
counseling. In addition, quite a large number of students in our schools, colleges and
universities find themselves in the grip of personal adjustment problems. Loneliness,
feeling of insecurity, conflicts with peers and teachers, low academic achievements
and bad company, all create tension and anxiety in the students. All these factors
make it necessary that we take a hard and realistic look at our education system to
find out ways and means to help the students. It is felt that institutions of education
should shoulder this responsibility. In Pakistan for the last so many years the
educationists have been emphasizing on organizing guidance and counseling
services in educational institutions but it is still a dream.
2. Aim. Aim of this presentation is to highlight the prospects of guidance and
counseling services in the education system of Pakistan.
3. Sequence. The sequence of the presentation is as under:-
a. Definition of Guidance
b. Definitions of Counseling
c. Difference between Guidance and Counseling
d. Goals of Guidance and Counseling
e. Examples of Guidance and Counseling
f. Types of Guidance
g. Counseling
h. Aims of Counseling
i. Personal/Social Counseling

RESTD
 j. Prospects of Guidance and Counseling Services in Education System
of Pakistan
k. Recommendations
l. Conclusion

4. Definition of Guidance. Guidance is a kind of advice or help given to the

individuals especially students, on matters like choosing a course of study or career,
work or preparing for vocation, from a person who is superior in the respective field or
an expert. It is the process of guiding, supervising or directing a person for a
particular course of action. The process aims at making students or individuals aware
of the rightness or wrongness of their choices and importance of their decision, on
which their future depends. It is a service that assists students in selecting the most
appropriate course for them, to discover and develop their psychological and
educational abilities and ambitions. Guidance results in self-development and helps a
person to plan his present and future wisely.

5. Definition of Counseling. The term counseling is defined as a talking

therapy, in which a person (client) discusses freely his/her problems and share
feelings, with the counselor, who advises or helps the client in dealing with the
problems. It aims at discussing those problems which are related to personal or
socio- psychological issues, causing emotional pain or mental instability that makes
you feel uneasy. The counselor listens the problems of the client with empathy and
discusses it, in a confidential environment. It is not a one day process, but there are
many sessions. Counseling is not just giving advice or making a judgment, but
helping the client to see clearly the root of problems and identify the potential
solutions to the issues. The counselor also changes the viewpoint of the client, to
help him take the right decision or choose a course of action. It will also help the
client to remain intuitive and positive in the future.

6. Difference between Guidance and Counseling

a. Guidance is mainly preventive and developmental where as counseling
is remedial as well as preventive and developmental.

RESTD
 b. Intellectual attitudes are the raw material of guidance but emotional
rather than pure intellectual attitude are the raw materials of counseling
process.
c. In guidance decision making operable at intellectual level, where as in
counseling it operate at emotional level.
d. In educational context, counseling service is among one of various
service offered by guidance programme.

7. Goals of Guidance and Counseling. In education system we can

summarize the goals guidance and counseling as following:-

a. Both are integral components of education system.

b. Provide an opportunity for an individual to see a variety of available

options and thereafter, assist the person in making a wise choice.

c. Both aims to promote the personal/social, educational, and career

development of all students.

d. Both are used to solve problems of life. The basic difference is in the
approach:-

(1) In guidance, the student's problems are listened carefully and

readymade solutions are provided by the expert.

(2) In counseling, the student's problems are discussed, analyzed,

and relevant information are provided. In the end, the student
himself/herself have an insight to the problem and he/she
become empowered to take own decision.

8. Examples of Guidance and Counseling. We can understand the use of

guidance and counseling in education system in a better way from following
examples:-
a. Guidance. Consider a new student in a university who is to register
for courses in a program. The course list has two categories -
compulsory and elective courses. The compulsory courses are
mandatory. The elective courses offer some choice. A teacher’s effort at

RESTD
 assisting the learner to select suitable elective courses provides an
example of guidance service.
b. Counseling. Assume after registration and some way into the program,
the student has problems with some courses. Perhaps the student is
unable to cope with the rigor of work or is having some problems with a
course lecturer. Offering informed advice on how to cope with emerging
problems is counseling.
9. Types of Guidance. Guidance can be divided into following types:-
a. Educational Guidance. It is, assisting students in their choices in
and adjustment to the curriculum and institutional life in general or
guiding students to pursue the right type of education according to their
aptitude, market demands, etc.
b. Career and Vocational Guidance. It helps students to choose a
suitable occupation, make the necessary preparations for it, enter into
it, and develop in it.
c. Personal and Social Guidance. It can be defined as the process of
helping students on how to behave with consideration to other people.
In other words, we can say that it is to help students to understand
oneself, how to get along with others, manners and etiquette, leisure
time activities, social skills, family and family relationships and
understanding masculine and feminine roles.
10. Counseling. Counseling is usually viewed as one part of guidance services. It
is learning-oriented process which usually occurs in an interactive relationship with
the aim of helping the person learn more about self, others, situations and events
related to given issues and conditions and also to learn to put such understanding to
being an effective member of the society. Counselor expresses care and concern
towards the person with a problem to facilitate that person's personal growth and
positive change through self-understanding.
11. Aims of Counseling. The counseling services are aimed at following:-
a. To help students understand the self in terms of their personal ability,
interest, motivation and potentials.

RESTD
 b. To help students gain insight into the origins and development of
emotional difficulties, leading to an increased capacity to take rational
control over their feelings and actions.
c. To alter maladaptive behaviours.
d. To help students develop decision making skills.
e. To assist students in moving towards the direction of fulfilling their
potentials or in achieving an integration of previously conflicting parts of
themselves.
f. To provide students with skills, awareness and knowledge that will
enable them to confront social inadequacies.
g. To help students gain some insight into the world of work, the realities
therein and the relationships to their education and specialization.
12. Personal/Social Counseling. It deals with emotional distress and
behavioral difficulties that arise when an individual struggles to cope with
developmental stages and tasks, like:-
a. Anxiety over a career decision
b. Lingering anger over an interpersonal conflict
c. Insecurity about getting older
d. Depressive feelings when bored with work
e. Excessive guilt about a serious mistake
f. A lack of assertion and confidence
g. Grief over the loss of a loved one
h. Disillusionment and loneliness after parents’ divorce.
i. Failure in examinations
j. Inability to make friends
k. Conflict with lecturers
13. Prospects of Guidance and Counseling Services in Education System of
Pakistan. There are no proper guidance and counseling services for students in
Pakistan and this result in a lack of proper handling of psychological and behavioural
issues in students. The government should ensure that every school in the country
must have at least one psychologist in order to promote guidance and counseling of
students. Moreover, students in Pakistan tend to face a number of difficulties while

RESTD
choosing a career path. That is largely because of the lack of availability of career
counselors in different institutes and colleges. Students in Pakistan tend to make
decisions based on what their peers and elders recommend which makes them
confuse and puts them in a dilemma where they cannot think for themselves
anymore. This leads towards students picking the wrong career path and instead of
feeling inspired and motivated towards their jobs or majors, rather they face
difficulties and complications in comprehending the field that they have picked for
themselves, which not only de-motivates them but, also extinguishes the fire of
progression in them.
14. Although there has been a significant change in variations of jobs of different
natures in the past few years, still the youth is not having access of the proper
knowledge and still being in the midst of a guessing game of decisions, which leads a
student towards apprehending the wrong career path that further leads towards the
road of de-motivation. As a result, they are not able to perform their best and even
their lack of interest allows them to concentrate and be passionate about their
selective field. These are the current rates of unsuccessful students of different fields
of students of Pakistan. 60% of students were unsuccessful in the field of Arts with
only 39.73% of regular students passing the exam and the successful percentage of
students in the field of commerce is 43.69% in the year 2016. The examination
controller of the Karachi educational board mentioned about the bland and
misunderstood situation “It is sad to see that since the last six years, even 50% of the
total students in the commerce section have failed to pass”.
15. Different studies and experts in career counseling reveal that the absence of
career guidance is the main source of students dropping out and failing in their
examinations and the larger portion of the rest of them are unsatisfied with their
career choice. Students of Pakistan are met with three stages of major choices that
could lead towards different careers. It is important that students pick subjects that
they are interested in because they need to be motivated, inspired and be passionate
about the career they are aiming to pursue. Following are the stages at which
students have to make a career development choice:-
a. Matriculation Level. After successfully clearing eighth grade,
students are met with a choice that will define the nature of career

RESTD
 paths that will be available for them, in the future. The choice that they
make at this stage will define the future options available for them.
Students have the choices of selecting from two group of subjects
namely “Computer science” and “Humanities”. Each group having
different core and compulsory subjects.
b. Intermediate Level. After matriculation examinations, students
now are faced with the requirement of admission into different colleges
and institutions to further their studies, they usually have the time span
of two months to decide the field that they would opt for. What they
choose for their intermediate education, will most likely define the field
of their profession. Therefore, it is highly advised and urged to seek
career counseling at this stage. So that they can evaluate and choose
from the options, carefully. The majors they have to choose from are,
Pre-Medical, Pre-Engineering, Commerce, Fine Arts, General Science,
and Computer Science.
c. Bachelor’s Degree Level. It is again highly recommended to seek
career counseling for bachelor’s degree even before the intermediate
examinations. A career counselor at this stage examines your
academic performance and your financial status and presents the most
suitable fields and different universities to choose. These are some
different majors you can graduate with a Bachelors degree from,
Medical, Engineering, Business Management, Mass Communication,
Arts &Humanities, Media Science, etc. To eradicate these problems,
education expos and different counseling events are held more than a
few times every year. They are essential for our youth’s academic
development. This is how we can summarize the crucial aspects of their
services:-
(1) They help us assess the different jobs that are in high demand.
(2) Help us examine our strengths and weaknesses and unveil the
best fields accordingly.
(3) They help us with the essential set of skills required for a
particular major.

RESTD
 (4) Also, they evaluate our financial status and provide the best
academic institution, accordingly.
16. Recommendations. Pakistani youth in this social media age, direly
need guidance and counseling services, so:-
a. Guidance and Counseling Services to be started at all
Schools/colleges.
b. Policy for training of qualified counselors should be formulated at
national level.
c. National media should be incorporated in the field of counseling.
d. BS and MS level programs in counseling should be started at
universities.
e. Efforts to synergize the role of parents and counselors to be carried out.
17. Conclusion. Through the above discussion it can be concluded that
through the introduction of a comprehensive guidance and counseling program in
education system of Pakistan, various positive changes can be expected like
enhanced awareness about many social and educational issues. Guided awareness
can be practically applied for better educational, social and personal outcomes of the
students in connection with teachers and parents as well. In a third world country like
Pakistan such programs can be designed to bring effective modification in the
cognitive perceptions of the youth, because behavior alterations always emerge from
healthy mental capabilities which in turn create productive societies. In today’s global
environment where economic pressures have created highly capitalistic competitions
which does not allow parents to give quality time to their children, thus the
responsibility of grooming the youth for healthy survival has befallen on the shoulders
of the school authorities.

RESTD