Corporation initiative to counsel students shows positive results

COIMBATORE: Fifteen-year-old Ramya* felt desperate as she was being forced by her parents to marry her uncle. When she returned to school after a long break, she told the teachers about her plight. While they were sympathetic, there was not much they could do. Ramya is not alone in her misery. A Class 10 student of the same school was being sexually abused by her father, after her mother's death. And Rajesh, a Class 12 student, is left to deal with an alcoholic father who beat his wife daily, making life miserable for the entire family. These are just a few of the problems that corporation school students had to suffer silently, without counselors to guide them, until Aram Foundation Charitable Trust came along.Dorai Sundaram, counselor and chief advisor at Aram Foundation, says that in all his interaction with children, he noticed that most of them come from troubled families. "Children look up to their parents and learn from them. But if the parents are riddled with problems such as addiction and abuse, their outlook on life becomes increasingly bleak over time," he said. Most children say that if they did not have to deal with family problems, they would perform better in school.Dorai has been conducting general counseling sessions for the corporation school students between Classes 8 and 12. They plan to cover more than 26 corporation higher secondary schools in the city this year. This is an initiative undertaken by the Coimbatore Corporation and outsourced to Aram Foundation Charitable Trust."Most of these students lack self-confidence and are unaware of why they have problems at home. In the general counseling sessions, the focus is on helping children understand their body and mind, manage their emotions, boost their confidence level, learn good habits and prepare for their exams," said S Latha, managing trustee of the NGO. The older students are educated on topics such as addiction, sexuality and relationships.After this first phase, the school could nominate students based on their problems and the foundation would give them special counseling, she added. Dorai Sundaram said that in the third and fourth phase, topics such as sexual harassment would be discussed. "These sessions are extremely helpful and we have seen some positive results. Often, children don't feel comfortable sharing their problems with us, but they are more open with counselors," said N K Maruthappan, head master of Rathinapuri higher secondary school. Teachers also say they don't have time to counsel children who need help.