Why MPs want guidance and counselling made mandatory in schools

The rise in cases of drug and substance abuse, indiscipline and sexual violence against children in schools is making MPs push to have guidance and counselling made mandatory in all primary and secondary schools.

Lawmakers are also concerned by the increasing number of cases of sexual violence against children, including incidents where minors are abused or killed by people close to them, such as relatives and caregivers.

According to MPs, these incidents expose learners to trauma and long-term psychological harm, requiring constant monitoring and counselling while at school.

In a motion brought to the House, Nyeri Woman Representative Rahab Mukami cited domestic violence, family instability, economic hardship, and other social pressures affecting learners emotionally as further urgent reasons for the programme to be made mandatory in schools.

The MPs noted that, currently, guidance and counselling services in most primary and secondary schools are informal and inadequately structured, with no standardised national framework to ensure professionalism and accountability.

They argue that structured psychosocial support, life skills training, child protection awareness, and early intervention during the formative years are critical in safeguarding learners, strengthening resilience, promoting discipline, and improving academic outcomes.

The MPs are now calling on the government to develop and implement a national policy framework for the recruitment, accreditation and deployment of professionally trained school counsellors.

They also want the government, through the Ministry of Education, to integrate mental health education, child protection awareness, personal safety training and life skills development into the school curriculum.

The MPs also called on the Ministry of Education to allocate adequate resources to support counselling services in schools.

Furthermore, they called on the government to establish clear coordination and referral mechanisms between schools, child protection institutions, and relevant government agencies, in order to ensure the effective safeguarding of learners.

The Wangai Task Force (2001), which investigated student unrest in secondary schools, recommended the establishment of functional guidance and counselling departments in schools, among other things.

While the report states that these departments were established, the teaching workload prevents them from providing effective guidance and counselling services in schools.

The report also noted a causal link between the lack of effective guidance and counselling services and unrest in secondary schools.

According to the report, guidance and counselling services in most schools are underutilised, with learners with disciplinary cases being the main users.

“Even where there are teacher-designated counselors, they are time-constrained to offer adequate counselling services to the students as they are expected to continue performing their regular classroom instruction duties,” reads the report.

Another report by the National Assembly Education Committee, which also investigated the wave of student unrest in secondary schools in 2019, recommended that the Ministry of Education and the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) facilitate the establishment of efficient and effective guidance and counselling programmes in all schools without delay.

The committee noted in its report that the guidance and counselling department's objective should be to help students with issues ranging from stress and religious conflicts to low self-esteem, addictions, broken families and poor academic grades, among others.

The committee also recommended that the school administration organise termly seminars to educate parents about their role in their children's upbringing.

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