Back to: Guidance and Counselling in Education B.ed Notes, M.A Notes, IGNOU Notes
Historical background of Guidance and Counselling in India
It is exceedingly challenging to determine the origins of the guiding movement in India. Through entrance tests, students from India and outside were accepted to the Texila and Nalanda Universities in ancient India, where educational advice was offered.
Kshatriya, Brahmins, Vaishys, and Sudras were the four major social groups in ancient India. Only Brahmins received formal education since they also received advice in this regard.
Education was provided throughout the Muslim era in mosques and temples. The kids received very little instruction. Up to the end of the 19th century, there was no direction in British India. In the 20th century, the movement for guiding grew in popularity. In reality, the guiding movement as we know it today was born in 1915. Guidance was first offered as a division under the department of Applied Psychology in 1938. Dr G.S. Bose, the Department’s then-chief, gave the section its initial instructions.
This section’s primary goal was to do research in the area of academic and career counselling. Later, the Department expanded its purview to include occupational data. Bombay was reached by the migration from Calcutta. A retired accountant working in Calcutta named Baltibai started the Guidance programme in 1941. Later, Mr Mukherejee, a psychologist from Calcutta University, founded the Vocational Bureau, a private organisation in Mumbai. The major objective of this bureau, which operated for around six years, was to offer guidance services to the military community.
The vocational guidance bureau was established in Bombay by the Parsi Panchayat. The Parsi community in Bombay benefited from the establishment of the Bureau. The Bureau made significant contributions to the field of guiding. A department of psychological care and research was also established at Patna University in 1945. Along with offering college students advice on their studies and careers, this section helped people with their social and personal concerns. The success of the work in Patna, Calcutta, and other locations inspired the government to create an employment branch inside the Ministry of Human Affairs. The Central Bureau of Educational and Vocational Guidance was founded in Delhi by the Indian government in 1954. The Bureau offered financial and technical assistance to different states to set up and expand their own Bureaus.
The country’s many colleges have each established their own job counselling and information centres. Seventy-five of these bureaus provide educational, career, and personal assistance for college and university students in around seventeen states and union territories.
In 1964, advice took on an all-Indian form, and the federal government established a separate arm to assist the state-level guidance bureaus. As a result, advisory bureaus were established in almost every state. The first advisory bureaus were established in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh in 1955, followed by Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Mysore, and Kerala in 1957.
In 1964, the Indian government established a panel to provide recommendations on the country’s educational framework as well as basic guidelines and plans for the advancement of education across the board. The panel advised that the guidance’s objectives should be expanded and adjusted in addition to helping students choose their courses of study and careers. Guidance should support children in developing all facets of their personalities while also assisting them in making the optimal adjustments to the environment in the school setting and at home.
The following proposals for advice and counselling for India were provided by the education commission in 1965–1966. The goal of guidance and counselling should be to occasionally help people make decisions, and it should be seen as a crucial component of education.
The Indian guidance movement has not kept up with the students’ evolving requirements. The idea that assistance is intended for all students, not only those who break from the norm in one direction or the other, is generally accepted.
