School teachers trained to counsel students

BY ARJUN KAFLE,Syangja, May 26: The Tanahun Education Training Centre, under the Gandaki Province, provided psychosocial counseling training for 400 teachers working at the primary and secondary levels at Syangja, Baglung, Parbat, Kaski and Myagdi districts.

According to Hari Ranabhat, head of the Tanahun Education Training Centre, the training aimed at helping teachers understand the mental and social health conditions of students, provide emotional support, improve social relationships, boost self-confidence, enhance academic performance and create a child-friendly environment in schools.

Students who show signs of concern for more than two weeks such as persistent anxiety, fear, being withdrawn, lack of interest, inability to concentrate, restlessness, excessive talking, behaving immaturely for their age, irritability, frequent anger, refusal to attend school, inability to sleep peacefully, fainting, recurring nightmares, mumbling or screaming are considered in need of psychosocial counseling.

Dr. Laxmi Panthi stated that providing timely counseling services to students showing psychosocial issues could also help reduce incidents of suicide among adolescents.

Since disasters, accidents, 

abuse, drug addiction, domestic violence, rape, failure and hopelessness are common causes of psychosocial issues in students, parents and teachers need to pay timely attention to such problems to ensure early intervention.

Dipendra Pariyar, a training facilitator, emphasised that all discussions with students during school counseling must remain confidential. He also stressed the importance of promoting self-esteem, self-confidence, hope, trust and inner peace through counseling.

Hansa Bahadur Sarki, a teacher from Sigana Secondary School who participated in the training, shared that the training was very useful for creating a child-friendly school environment and addressing students' psychosocial problems. He expressed happiness at learning how to identify and understand student problems, as well as the steps and methods for finding solutions.

The training also helped participants understand the difference between seizures and conversion disorder and emphasised the need for all teachers to be equipped with skills to address social, psychological and behavioral problems that affect students’ education and health.