The Haryana Government is set to form counselling centres in colleges for redressal of problems and challenges faced by students during exams. A dedicated team of experts will also be constituted to tackle personal and educational problems among the students. The special team will also tab on such students who are suffering from depression.
The team of experts will direct their efforts towards solving students’ problems. The depressed students will also take part in Yoga and cultural activities. The State Government has written to all colleges in the State to put counselling centres in place.
These centres will be interactive and target-oriented, involving students and parents to address common student concerns stress, fear of exams, tensions, anxiety and other academic worries.
"A team of trained psychologist including professors will be hired for the purpose. Advanced information about the centres will be given to the students. Concern students can directly interact with the team and share their problem. First, they will be counselled thereafter, their kin will also be addressed. All the information will be kept secret," said Sushma Chaudhary, Principal Dronacharya Government College.
Referring to UGC guidelines on the safety of students on and off campuses, she said that according to them all higher education institutions have to mandatorily put in place counselling system for students".
"Teacher counsellors can coordinate with wardens of hostels and exchange personal details of students, academic record and behaviour patterns for corrective action," she said.
"A role of social media is one of the big reasons which are changing the mindset of the students and new generation. Most of the time students spend on a social media platform like Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and among others. This causes enough reason to develop stress, depression and other sociological disorder into them," said Archana Tyagi, senior consultant psychiatrist and phytotherapy psychologist at a private hospital.