An Overview of Guidance and Counselling and secondary school students
The idea of guidance and counselling has been there for many years. Since Kenya‟s
independence in 1963, Kenyan education has evolved in series of changes (Republic
of Kenya, 1976). Initially, guidance and counselling services were not emphasised in
institutions of learning. Mutie and Ndambuki (2004) trace modern forms of guidance
and counselling to very recent years, also Biswalo (1996), further notes that the need
for counselling services today could be due to the ever increasing number of
challenges in the society. These are social, personal, vocational, educational and other
challenges in the modern society. There is therefore need to ensure students can get
solutions to the ever increasing challenges. The terms guidance and counselling both
involve process of offering some help and different definitions of the two terms are
given below.
According to Kenya Institute of Education (2004), guidance involves a process in
which an expert educates a person to make responsible decisions so as to be able to
handle challenges in his or her environment effectively. According to Makinde (1984)
the term guidance has four components which include a process, helping, the
individual or client and understanding of self and the world by the client. Thus
guidance is primarily concerned with individual behavioural processes and helping a
client to understand himself and his world. According to Mutie and Ndambuki (2004),
counselling service is the brain and heart of the guidance programme. Thus
counselling represents a part of the total process of guidance which is helping
individuals achieve the self-understanding and self- direction necessary to make the
maximum adjustment in a particular environment.
Egan (2002) notes that the key goal of counselling is to reduce psychological
disturbances and therefore counselling lays emphasis on helping clients develop their
competencies. Generally, counselling emphasises the aspect of increasing clients‟
personal responsibility for their own lives. Therefore, counsellors tend to be most
effective when they enable clients to help themselves after the end of counselling.
Thus the ultimate goal of counselling is self–helping so that clients become their own
best counsellors.
Therefore, Guidance and counselling services are very important tools in human
development as they involve the assistances made available by qualified and trained
persons to individuals of any age to help them to manage their own life activities,
develop their own points of view, make their own decisions and carry their own
burdens (Bark, 2003). In addition, Braddock (2001) states that, the purpose of
guidance and counselling in schools is to improve academic achievement, foster
positive study attitudes and habits, increase acquisitions and application of conflict
resolution skills, decrease school dropouts, among others. Hence guidance and
counselling programme is a key component in any learning institution, since students
encounter very many problems.
Problems Faced by Secondary School Students
Secondary school students in different parts of the world experience may problems
which at times interfere with their well-being and adjustment in life. In Britain,
according to a report by the United Kingdom Government‟s Social Exclusion Unit
(2004), a child born into the bottom social class is still more likely to leave school
with no qualifications, to live in relative poverty and to die younger than their peers
born into the professional classes (Sirin, 2005). Economic problems also affect
Australian students, Rothman‟s (2003) analysis revealed that within the same school,
a student who comes from a higher socio-economic group will achieve better test
results than a student from a lower socio-economic group. Low socio economic status
is not only a problem on its own but it has also been noted to cause other problems
experienced by students. As compared to high socio economic positions, low socio
economic positions was associated with an increased risk of all mental health
problems and most associations were statistically significant and the strongest
increases were found for aggression, delinquency, attention, internalising and
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externalising problems. Students from low socio economic backgrounds may suffer
from low self-esteem and also frustrations due to unmet needs and these may cause
the behaviour problems observed in the group, on the other hand, students of high
socio economic backgrounds may feel privileged because their parents are in a
position to meet their needs hence not exhibiting behaviour problems.
In Nigeria some common problems among students are truancy, absenteeism,
fighting, stealing and drug addiction among others as typical examples of disciplinary
problems (Temitayo, Nayaya & Ajibola, 2013). Petersen and Rosser (2008) contend
that serious breaches of school discipline policy include assault by students on
teachers and other students, verbal abuse, offensive language against teachers and
other students, sexual and other forms of harassment, threat and intimidation of
teachers and other students, possessing offensive weapons, supplying or using illegal
drugs, and intrusions into the school or classrooms by adults with the intention of
confronting teachers. Other observable personal problems of Nigerian adolescents,
particularly those in secondary schools, are unhappiness, annoyance and anger,
inability to meet needs, anxiety neurosis, excessive frustration, lack of knowledge and
information and partial or total failure. Also common among the secondary school
students are educational or academic problems such as poor study habits, poor
memory, poor performance, lack of interest in the school and fear to disclose their
problems to teachers while vocational problems border on poor job motivation, lack
of job skills, poor capacity for work and lack of information about world of work.
In Kenya, secondary school students face many problems just like their counterparts
in other parts of the world. The problems faced by secondary school students in
Kenya have generally been classified into four distinct areas: social, psychological,
educational and vocational (Republic of Kenya, 1977). Economic problems have also
been noted as very key among students and it has been found that they cause other
problems and hence their effects on educational and vocational problems are also
highlighted in the subsections below. The following subsections will therefore deal
with the different types of problems amongst the secondary school students in Kenya.
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2.3.1 Social Problems
Most social problems stem from association between individuals especially when
relationships are under strain or when there is relationship deterioration, while other
social problems occur as a result of characters of association i.e. having some
influence over one another. These associations and relationships can also be a source
of problems to the students whereby they might be influenced by their peers to go
against the schools set rules and regulations. In the last two decades, there have been
marked upswing in social problems among secondary school students that resulted in
loss of life and destruction of property.
It has been noted that social problems in the Kenyan schools are very common and
have taken a new dimension where students have been causing a lot of destruction to
property and even deaths. According to Kindiki (2009) there have been increased
cases of students assaulting and raping their colleagues, teachers and other times
innocent citizens, burning their colleagues and their properties, school properties,
matching out of school in riotous manner, frog-matching school administrators,
blocking roads and even looting farms and shops when on rampage.
The new dimension of students‟ social problems first came into the limelight at St
Kizito Mixed Secondary School in Meru in 1991, when male students invaded a girl‟s
dormitory and the outcome of the invasion was that 19 girls died and scores were
injured (Republic of Kenya, 2001). Other tragic incidents include the case of Nyeri
High School where some students locked prefects in their cubicle and set them ablaze
using petrol. Two years later, 68 students of Kyanguli Secondary School in Machakos
lost their lives when some of their colleagues set fire on a dormitory (Republic of
Kenya, 2001). The situation has not changed as similar scenarios of indiscipline
continue to be reported. In 2008, many schools were burnt down by students resulting
into great financial losses and even death. Another similar incidence happened at
Endarasha high school where students burnt down a dormitory and two students
perished (Wambugu, 2012). Other common incidences are burning of school
dormitories in Stephjoy Girl‟s and Boy‟s High schools in Kiambu County in 2015
and in the Boys school three boys were killed in the inferno.
Students also seem to experience other types of social problems, Ajowi and Simatwa
(2010) on their study on the role of guidance and counselling in promoting student 15
discipline in secondary schools in Kisumu district, concluded that social problems
such as bullying of new students, rudeness to teachers, fighting among students,
boy/girl sexual relationships and bullying of new students were common among
learners.
Another problem facing Kenyan youth and secondary school students are not an
exception is extremism in the country. Although this threat originally came from
outside the region, it has increasingly gained momentum in Kenya by attracting local
Kenyans to its philosophy and goal since the August 1998 United State of America
embassy bombings in Kenya (Botha, 2013). Some of the factors noted to make people
vulnerable to radicalisation are peers and religious figures, who have been found to be
among the most active players in introducing others to radical groups (Botha 2014).
Other factors include poor socio-economic status which may not drive people to
radicalisation, but poor socio-economic circumstances undoubtedly make individuals
more susceptible to it (Botha 2013). However, uneven development and subsequent
relative deprivation played a prominent role among people joining Mombasa
Republican Council members, but not Al-Shabaab. Lack of access to quality
education to help people secure better employment may cause people to join extremist
groups especially when monetary gains are expected after recruitment (Botha 2014).
The family background may play a role in the radicalisation especially when the
young person experiences abandonment or lack of belonging; these feelings might
contribute to making such a person feel the need to belong to a radical group where
one will experience acceptance and a feeling of belonging (Botha 2013).
The social problems experienced could be as a result of parents, teachers and other
help providers not being able to reach students because through dialogue and use of
social skills, the students could be in a position to present their issues to those in
authority and on the other hand those in authority could listen. The two groups may
come into a consensus whereby it is a win-win situation and in the long run the losses,
damages, deaths and body harms could be avoided. Therefore, if learners have the
help-seeking behaviour, they would look for means of getting solutions lather than
engaging in anti-social behaviours.
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2.3.2 Psychological Problems
Psychological problems include problems such as drug abuse, depression, suicide, and
juvenile delinquency (Kazdin, 1993). Clinical practitioners and other experts on the
development and treatment of psychological problems during adolescence typically
distinguish between three categories of problems: Substance abuse, internalising
disorders and externalising disorders (Steinberg, 1999). Substance abuse is the
frequent and excessive use of alcohol or drugs such that there is impairment in the
physical, mental, or social functioning of the individual (Adams & Gullotta, 1983).
Different studies have shown that students abuse drugs and alcohol. According to
Ngesu, Ndiku and Masese‟s (2008) study on drug dependence and abuse in Kenyan
secondary schools, found that majority of the respondents (80%) agreed that alcohol
was the most frequently abused drug followed by miraa, kuber and bhang. Atemi and
Ondieki (2012) in their study on the preconditioning factors to drug use and abuse
among secondary school adolescents in Kiamokma Division, Kisii County also found
that, alcohol use was the most prevalent in the division since 46% of the respondents
had used it, cigarettes had been used by 16% of the respondents, while cocaine and
heroin were the least used by only 2% of the respondents.
Internalising disorders are those in which the young people‟s problems are turned
inward and are manifested in emotional and cognitive distress such as depression,
anxiety or phobia. Externalising disorders on the other hand are those in which the
young person‟s problems are turned outwards and are manifested in behavioural
problems. Common externalising problems during adolescence include delinquency,
antisocial aggression, and truancy (Steinberg, 1999). Watindi (2012), in her study on
late childhood and adolescent externalising and internalising psychopathology in rural
public secondary and primary schools in Western Kenya found out that students had
internalising problems (100) 33.1%, those with somatic problems were (89) 29.5%
and those with anxious/depression and (93) 30.8% of them with withdraw/depression
and age group 15 –18 years had highest internalising problems. Further findings were
that 29.6% of the respondents had externalising problems with these problems being
more common in boys than girls.
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The adolescents experience many psychological problems due to maybe the changes they
go through which may make them view themselves as adults and hence engage in risky
behaviours like taking drugs and alcohol which might be viewed as normal for adults.
They may also engage in such behaviours because of misconceptions which come from
the advertisements of some of those products on mass media or may be due to incorrect
information provided by the peers. Therefore, parents and teachers should take a
proactive role to ensure that young people are well advised on developmental changes
and hence be well prepared to handle challenges of each stage of development. They
should equally be educated on the negative effects of drugs and alcohol. When adults
engage in such discussions with adolescents they may get a feeling that there are people
who are concerned about their problems and hence any other time they find themselves in
a need, they may find it imperative to seek help.
