Do our teachers have potential to act as a counsellor in identifying the needs of the children? (Part 1.5):

- Schools play an important role in a child’s life, as they spend most of the time at school, it becomes a shared responsibility of school and home. In recent times many studies have highlighted the prevalence of scholastic (related to school/academics) difficulties as a major problem which children face (Kapur, 2007). There are many challenges related to learning and mental development. As a school and learning facilitators, we should understand these challenges which children face.

There are many mental health-related challenges which children face. And today there are many scientific studies/research institutes which are contributing to understanding these challenges which children face. Some of the mental disorders are Cerebral palsy, Mental retardation, Autism, Learning disabilities (dyslexia), mutism (Selective mutism is a childhood anxiety disorder involving an inability to speak in specific social situations), Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD),.and so on. (A Parthasarathy, 2013).

As a support system at schools to help the stakeholders to understand these mental health challenges in children, the school counsellor plays a very crucial role. When we look back some decades ago, the concept of the counsellor in India was unknown to the general public. This opens up a question as to, what challenges are we facing and what strategies have we adopted, that the need for a counsellor is felt in our country. What has happened that we need a counsellor now, as compared to an earlier time when we did not have a counsellor? These are the very critical questions to think about, to understand the generational changes.

Do only counsellors have to undertake the role of a counsellor or are that our teachers are also able to act as a counsellor. There is already a concept in Singapore, whereby selected regular teachers are trained in counselling (This concept of Singapore will be discussed in our further parts of the series). Do our teachers have the potential to act as a lay counsellor in identifying the needs of the children? Some of the studies suggest that teachers can identify children with disabilities, mental health and academic problems, but do not know what to do about them (Kapur, 2007). In this situation can teachers play the role of a counsellor? Is the current preparation of teachers for the counselling role adequate?

The undertaken study helped us in understanding existing models of mental health programs/School counselling in India, through which we could examine the current needs of mental health and counselling intervention in India. This helped us to understand counselling in terms of student wellbeing program.

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This is part of Children's mental health and wellbeing series brought to you by Credence Learning Foundation. This article is taken from a study submitted as course work at Azim Premji University.

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