MINISTER of Education, Adamu Adamu, says Nigeria has not had any national policy guiding counselling services for almost 60 years that counselling services have been carried out in various educational institutions.

This, the Minister described as a ‘shame’, noting that the absence of policy has resulted in the lack of a well-defined structure for delivering counselling services, poor communication among practitioners and stakeholders and absence of synergy among professionals.

“This has given room for inefficiency and ineffectiveness in the delivery of counselling services,”Adamu said on Thursday in Abuja at the unveiling, dissemination and distribution of the National Policy on Counselling.

He lamented that the lack of a well-coordinated and consistent counselling practice “in our basic and secondary schools has contributed in no small measure to the number of out-of-school children, reduction in completion rate, increase in the rate of anti-social behaviour in schools and other vices militating against the development of our children into responsible members of the society.”

Adamu explained that the Ministry decided to design and streamline the duties of counsellors and define their relationship with other school personnel in counselling practice by developing the National Policy on Counselling.

The Minister said this is based on the realisation of the role counselling plays in the moral development and academic performance of learners in the schools.

He stressed that the policy seeks to entrench a regime of international best practices and to clarify all areas of possible conflict and misconception in the practice of counselling.

“It also provides distinct and well-defined guidelines that ensure role clarity and addresses issues of role ambiguity in both school and non-school settings,” Adamu said.

He added that the need for effective counselling services became imperative with the rise in truancy, poor performance, cultism, examination malpractices, drug abuse, sexual harassment and a general decline in parental care.

The National Policy on Counselling and its Implementation Guidelines draft was developed in 2016 and was approved in July 2017 by the National Council on Education (NCE), the nation’s highest policy-making in the education sector.