COIMBATORE: The spate of suicides and passion crimes has forced educational institutions to wake up to the need for providing counselling and similar measures to students. But the jury is out on who ought to do the counselling.

In most institutions, the teachers themselves act as counsellors, most headmasters of corporation schools this reporter talked to said. However, not one of them has been trained to carry out the task. In many schools, the task of counselling is assigned to a regular teacher, who has not been given even a day's training to do the tricky job. The situation is no less different even among the higher education institutions. Psychologists warn that handing over the task of counselling to untrained people could backfire.

It was almost a year ago that the district school education department instructed schools to appoint a teacher as a counsellor. If any student had a psychological problem, (s)he was supposed to approach the counsellor. "We have appointed a senior teacher who is interested in talking to students as counsellors. They observe students and help them deal with their problems," says S Balakrishnan, headmaster, Corporation High School, Siddapudur. Adds Loganathan, headmaster of a corporation school near Gandhipuram: "Class teachers observe students and suggest those who have problems to teachers who are appointed as counsellors." He adds these teacher-counsellors are able to help them.

The same formula is followed in colleges too. So, a lecturer is assigned a few students of his or her class, who (s)he will observe and take care. But, as in the case of school teachers posing as counsellors, the lecturers assigned the task too are not given training on counselling.

College officials accept that this is an issue that needs to be looked into. R Ravichandran, director and secretary, KG College of Arts and Science, says in many cases the teachers do not know the rudiments of dealing with a student who has psychological issues. "Many times, the teachers appointed for the task may not know how even to talk to such a person. They may scold or shout making the situation even worse," he says. Trainings on counselling and psychology must be held for the teachers who act as mentors for the students, he says.

But psychologists complain that this is a half-hearted measure and need to be rethought. M Elango, head, psychology department, PSG College of Arts and Science, says teachers may not be trained adequately for the purpose. "A wrongly-trained teacher may do more harm than good. Barring a few who win the confidence of students, most of the teachers are viewed by students as persons in authority. How can one confide to a person in authority," he asks. He says schools and colleges must appoint trained counsellors.

Unfortunately, most colleges and schools see this as an additional burden on their finances and do not see this as a necessary measure that ought to be followed for the sake of students, who live and study in extremely stressful times.