The essence of incorporating guidance and counseling into the school system was to eliminate overwhelming ignorance of young people on their choices of career prospects and personality maladjustment among students.
Over the years, this initiative has yielded significant successes, with students receiving proper guidance in the area of career projection and development.
The importance of the guidance and counseling programme in secondary schools, includes bringing to the students an increased understanding of the educational, vocational and social information needed to make wise choices.
With so many influencing forces responsible for the gradual recognition of formal guidance to young people in various educational levels, the need for Guidance and Counseling (G&C) teachers cannot be overstated.
It is however unfortunate that in many secondary schools across the Nigeria, there is a significant shortage of G&C teachers, hence the misguided conception of young persons about their abilities and career aspirations.
Today, it has become increasingly worrisome that students choose as their role models, those who make quick money rather than those who devote themselves to career development and society’s upgrade in different fields of human endeavor.
Many young persons now take as their role models, artists and other social media influencers who create the impression that all that could ever matter is to make money.
With financial challenges on the increase, it becomes pertinent that young ones are properly guided so that they do not attach greater importance to pocket development than to mental and self cum societal development.
C- Advocate therefore calls on all stakeholders in the education sector, especially the federal and state Ministries of Education, to, as a matter of urgent importance, revisit the curriculum with a view to consequential adjustments to accommodate already existing stipulations for the availability of G&C teachers in secondary schools.
This will not only help to redirect students but also help to shape a future of society friendly individuals who are more concerned about humanity and their contributions to society than about self aggrandizement.
It will help to reduce the number of truants and touts roving the streets, while also checkmating crime and criminality rates as young persons will be preoccupied with career pursuit and progression rather than on temporal pocket enlargement.
More so, it will reduce moral rectitude and solidify the tenets of moral ethics while equipping Nigeria for a gloried position in the comity of nations as well as rebrand the nation.
