January 30, 2003	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 26,1423

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ISLAMABAD, Jan 29: The Federal Directorate of Education (FDE) will set up cells in educational institutions for counselling students facing socio-psychological and emotional problems.

According to the FDE officials, it will be a unique addition to the ICT-based schools and colleges where students will be able to discuss their academic and personal problems with the designated counsellors in every institution.

The FDE director-general, Brig Maqsoodul Hasan, told this reporter that counselling and guiding cells were part of education systems in the west. However, due to a number of constraints, under which the country’s education sector was working, such initiatives could not be taken here.

He said at this impressionable age, students suffered from multifarious psychological problems some times due to uncomfortable marital lives of their parents and some times because of adolescence-related complications. Non-availability of facilities make students try self-recommended treatments which, in the end, have adverse affects on their personalities, he added.

Therefore, the FDE, within its available infrastructure has planned to provide counsellors at their respective educational institutions.

Brig Maqsood said although the FDE could not establish independent cells with special psychiatrists, it was trying to work out a mechanism under which selected teachers would be trained.

In this regard, about 400 teachers will be selected and, “we have asked the National Institute of Psychology, Quaid-i-Azam University, to train them,” he added.

The NIP has agreed to facilitate the FDE, and its faculty members will act as resource persons during the training workshops to train teachers who will sit in the cells to counsel students.

Prof Rafique Tahir, the chief coordinator training, said the Directorate of Education had almost finalized a pool of teachers who would be trained to handle emotional issues of students starting from initial classes till the master level.

He said in this regard, the FDE had scheduled an orientation workshop next week, where representatives of the Parent-Teachers Association would be invited. He said setting up of the cells would be a new idea for both teachers and students.

A five-member committee headed by Dr Mumtaz, head of the Applied Psychology department, F.G. College for Girls, F-10, constituted by the FDE, was looking after the whole issue.