The Need for a Functional Guidance and Counselling Programme in Nigeria's Primary Schools

Abstract

Guidance services in the Nigerian educational system have however, been focused in the secondary schools and tertiary institutions with very little attention, if any, paid to the primary school sector. This has made many people to ask whether the primary school child in Nigeria has not got any problems that needs the attention of the counsellor; of course, the primary school child obviously has problems as well. This neglect of guidance services at this level of Nigeria's educational system is the concern of this paper. The paper examines the need for a functional guidance and counselling programme in Nigeria's primary school with particular reference to developmental guidance and vocational development. Primary school counselling naturally, must be concerned with consulting, appraisal, counselling, placement, public relation and information. In view of this, the paper discusses the importance of guidance and counselling in primary schools, functions of the primary school counsellor, modalities for designing guidance activities in the primary school and concludes with recommendations for a functional guidance and counselling programme in Nigeria's primary school. Keywords: Functionality, programme, Guidance and Counselling, need, Primary Schools The Nigerian Journal Of Guidance And Counselling Vol. 12 (1) 2007 pp. 140-148