EDUCATION IN COUNSELLING STUDENTS

There is ample opportunity for schools in Papua New Guinea to set up a study that has both an educational and counselling function for students starting from Grade 6.

There is the Personal Development course that starts in primary school and goes through to high school. It should help all students to answer life questions that will confront them in only a few years to come. There is the question of domestic violence.

The boys and girls should start to think about the qualities of the person they would marry. They look at family and the roles of parents in looking after children. The teacher is partly a counsellor in helping students to move to the next phase of their lives.

Then there is the Language and Literature study that introduces students to resource material on a range of topics. There are often topics that mesh with the family focus on Personal Development.

By the time the students have finished their course in grade 12, they should be able to express in their own words their response to a range of topics. They should write short essays on each of the following:

Domestic violence

Family love and caring

Role of parents

Responsibilities of father and mother

The man I would marry.

The woman I would marry.

Problems of living in Papua New Guinea

Needs of a wife

Needs of a husband

Needs of children

The teacher as counsellor should be able to promote these topics in every grade. As the students mature and move from grade to grade, their ideas will grow. By the time they finish school, they should be ready to be mature adults.

If all students achieve this then Universal Basic Education has a purpose. The purpose of school is not just to give a place at university. 

It is also to help a young person to have a positive life with a spouse and kids in a family. The present education focus should be on preparing the next generation to be loving family members.