GUIDANCE SERVICE IN PAKISTAN

Chapter 32

GUIDANCE SERVICE IN PAKISTAN

The Chapter at a Glance

The guidance situation in Pakistan.

Causes of indifference towards guidance services.

Recommendations for improved guidance services.

Our most fundamental need.

            Child needs some sort of guidance, be it through a wise teacher, a kind parent, an experienced counselor or through the specialized agency of a child guidance clinic. Provision of adequate guidance, as has been repeatedly pointed out, proves extremely beneficial to the individual, his family, the school and the community from the mental, physical, financial, social and cultural points of views. Conversely, an absence of any guid­ance whatsoever, or misguidance is replete with greatest possible hazards for the child and hence for everyone in the community.

The Guidance Situation in Pakistan

            The situation with regard to the dearth of the available guidance services in Pakistan warrants serious consideration of all those who have any genuine regard for the cause of health, education and welfare of children.

Dearth of Guidance Services and its Consequences

            Referring to the dearth of adequate guidance services in our country and its consequences on child growth, a Pakistani edu­cationist* once remarked:—

            "It is very common to observe that an alarmingly great number of children in our country go astray because of lack of timely guidance at home and school. This sad situation warrants serious consideration of all of us.

            A child who’s basic inner needs are not adequately satisfied and whose development is thrown out of balance by various difficulties is virtually exposed to the risk of a number of unfortunate developments such as truancy, educational backwardness, anti-sociality and delin­quency. In later adult life these unguided and misguided children might assume more dangerous and more deadly forms and thus become a formidable obstacle in the social-cultural evolution of the entire community."

Necessity and Urgency of Guidance Services

            Throwing light on the necessity and urgency for adequate provision of appropriate guidance services in our homes and schools the same speaker said:

            "Much of this human wastage, obviously inimical both to the indi­vidual and to the society, could have been avoided if these adults were given proper guidance right from the earliest year of their career.

Elaborate guidance programs become all the more indispensable in an age which is fast becoming reconstruction and progress minded. Schools and homes, therefore, must realize the necessity and urgency of attending to the guidance needs of each individual child. At each developmental stage the child must be helped to develop balanced and a healthy attitude towards his fellow-beings and the surround­ings.

Causes of Indifference towards Guidance Services

            The educationally progressive countries of the world have done immensely enlightening work in this field. They are now engaged in making further improvements, refinements and expansion in child guidance services. Needless to point out, we have been on the contrary indifferent and sluggish in this direction. In fact, our needs as regards guidance services are much wider than those of most other countries. This is clearly indicated in the rising tide of our educational wastage and failures, intellectual frustration and superficiality, professional inefficiency and misfits, etc.

            What makes us forgetful of our guidance needs? The following causes are mainly responsible for our indifference towards the development of adequate guidance services for our children and young people:—

            (1) Lack of popular realization.

            (2) Defective educational system.

            (3) Theoretical instruction in psychology.

            (4) Lack of training facilities for guidance workers.

 (1) Lack of Popular Realization: Our masses are not fully alive to the necessity and utility of guidance services. They fail to visualize the dangers conse­quent upon the non-availability of adequate guidance in various fields of our national life. Mass illiteracy is one of the serious factors that stand in the way of a popular national awakening to this need.

(2) Defective Educational System: Our previous educational system was hollow and unrealistic. It laid much emphasis on bookish learning but made no provision for the development of individuality and creativity in the learner. Consequently, it never bothered about providing guidance ser­vices for the development of desirable virtues and traits among school and college students. Although this defective educational system is now being replaced by a better one, yet the damage done by the previous system cannot be undone over­night.

(3) Theoretical Instruction in Psychology: Instruction in Psychology provided at the college and university levels is predominantly theoretical and academic. It fails to stimulate the psychology students to appreciate the needs and problems of children in actual life situations and to apply their psychological knowledge in various fields of guidance. This unfortunate situation is now also being remedied but the desired results will be achieved only after some time.

(4) Lack of Training Facilities for Guidance Workers: No adequate facilities are available for practical training in guidance work. Of late arrangements are reported to have been made for certain short-term training courses for the guid­ance and counseling workers at the Institute of Education, University of the Punjab, Lahore. Such modest efforts, however, are insufficient to meet the ever-growing demand for training facilities. With the existing inadequate arrangements for the training of guidance workers those clinics that are already operating experience tremendous difficulties in obtaining the services of suitably qualified and experienced personnel for their staff.

Recommendations for Improved Guidance Services

            It is obvious that adequate organization in Pakistan of the much needed guidance services will require sound planning and hard toil. Really constructive steps are what are required. Super­ficial measures and ill-planned moves do more harm than good. To begin with, effective measures need to be taken immediately to meet all the inadequacies in the present situation which have been pointed out in the foregoing pages.

A National Institute of Child Study

            In addition to this, certain other specific measures will have to be taken to make improved guidance services available to our children. The establishment of a National Institute of Child Study would be one very useful and practical measure.

            The proposed institute would conduct research and field work on child development and guidance. Besides a number of other specialized sections, it would also have three distinct departments on guidance, each specializing mainly in the follow­ing fields:—

            (1) Educational Guidance.

            (2) Vocational Guidance.

            (3) Personal Guidance.

            It is a self evident fact that  the establishment of such an institute  and the staffing of its wings with appropriately lately trained personnel, capable of conducting research and practical work in these main fields of guidance, will meet the most fundamental and the most brutally neglected need of the country. It will save immeasurable loss and waste, both human and material, in education, industry, vocations and other fields of life.

Establishment of a Guidance Bureau

            The establishment of a National Bureau of Guidance would also go a long way towards meeting a pressing need of the time. Such a bureau would be staffed by trained and mature guidance workers. It could also start a technical journal on guidance publishing the research and field work conducted by the bureau.

            The main functions of the proposed bureau would be as follows:—

(1)      Conducting and publishing research work on guidance.

(2)      Training guidance workers in the theory and practice of guidance and helping them to establish guidance ser­vices in important towns and villages.

(3)      Constructing and standardizing of tests of intelligence, personality, aptitude, etc.

(4)      Coordinating the activities of guidance clinics and centers already engaged in guidance work and promot­ing cooperation in            their efforts.

(5)      Popularizing adequate guidance practices among indi­viduals and agencies.

Our Most Fundamental Need

            As has been repeatedly pointed out, the provision of ade­quate guidance services is one of the most fundamental needs of our country. Investing finances in the establishment, admin­istration and maintenance of such services is the most economical measure that a progressive nation can adopt in order to improve the human stuff of which it is composed and thereby increase its material and mental efficiency.