Historical Development of Guidance and Counselling in Nigeria
1)The history of guidance and counselling in Nigeria can be traced back to the 1960s.
2)The first expansion of these two terms began in the primary and secondary schools shortly after independence. According to Adediran, Nigeria’s organized formula for guidance and counselling started at St. Theresa College in 1959.
Reasons behind the development of guidance and Counselling in Nigeria
1)The development of guidance and Counselling started in Nigeria for various reasons which include:
a)expansion in the enrollment of pupils in the primary and secondary schools after the independence in 1960,
b)the growing need of youth in Nigeria,
c) repeated changes in the education system and unrest in tertiary institutions the changes in home and family life.
2) According to Adediran (1995), it is generally accepted that in Nigeria the organized and formal guidance and counselling service started in 1959 at St. Theresa’s College, Oke Ado Ibadan, by a group of dedicated religious reverend sisters who had the perception of the need for proper guidance in job selection for their secondary school leavers.
3)This is about eight decades after the birth of an established and functional guidance and counselling services in America. The advisers even though were not vocational guidance specialists, later formed the core of what later became the Nigerian career council.
4)By the end of the 70s, the government had already recognized the importance of guidance and counselling in the educational, economical and social life of the nation.
5) The government then realized that for education to be complete, the beneficiary must have a good sense of fulfillment, which led to the inauguration of the Counselling Association of Nigeria in 1976 as an affiliation of the American Personnel and Guidance Association (APGA).
6)The Federal Government then inserted the need for guidance and counselling services and courses in our schools in its National Policy on Education by 1981.
7)This then led the state governors to establish guidance and counselling units in their ministries of education, in addition to counselling units in the universities.
