Dimapur: The State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) Nagaland signed an MoU with St. Joseph University Chumoukedima for collaboration on school counseling in Kohima on Monday.
SCERT director Kevirale-ü Kerhuo and St. Joseph University vice-chancellor Dr D Gnanadurai signed the MoU.
Speaking on the occasion, Kerhuo said SCERT Nagaland was the first SCERT in India to introduce a diploma course in school counseling in 2018.
Kerhuo said the primary objective of the course is to train teachers and to provide professionally trained school counsellors to ensure that there are at least one male and one female trained school counsellors available in every government school in Nagaland.
With the enhancement of the duration of the diploma course from six months to nine months, she said the SCERT is in the process of reviewing the existing curriculum and developing a new syllabus.
“The SCERT Nagaland is trying to integrate the Naga indigenous methods and techniques of dealing with the modern world of complexities, stress and anxieties in the present day living,” Kerhuo.
She stressed that counseling be made an integral part of the school curriculum to help every student develop and enhance their academic performance.
She added that the SCERT’s school counseling cell has already trained 105 teachers as school counsellors and that it will launch a new batch of diploma course to help in providing more trained school counselors in government schools.
Kerhuo hoped that the MoU would help in professionalizing school counseling in the state and also would be able to provide a better quality of training through collaboration with the university.
St. Joseph’s University vice-chancellor Dr D Gnanadurai stressed that school counseling is essential as it addresses the social, emotional, and academic needs of students, leading to a holistic approach to the overall success of students.
He said the school counselors help students with academic planning, goal setting and study skills. They also provide academic support and guidance about post-secondary education options, including college, technical schools and vocational training, he added.