Winneba (C/R), March 15, GNA-The National Coordinator of the Guidance and Counselling Centre of the Ghana Education Service, Mrs. Cecelia Pare Biney has said that students must be well-equipped during their training so that they can play a pivotal role in stemming crime and social vices bedevilling the Ghanaian society. She, in this regard said Guidance and Counselling teachers owed it a duty to train school children to be responsible and useful future leaders.

Mrs Biney was speaking at a grand durbar to climax the 10th anniversary celebration of the Students Counsellors Association of Ghana (SCAG) of the Psychology Department of the University of Education, Winneba on Saturday.

The theme for the celebration is "Guidance and Counselling, the heart beat of the Nation: a myth or reality". Mrs. Biney, who was the Special Guest of Honour, called on counselling teachers to help their students choose the appropriate courses and careers that will be of immense benefit to themselves and society in general. A Lecturer at the Psychology of Education Department from the University of Cape Coast, Dr. (Mrs.) Linda Naa Forde called on government to pay more attention to the study of Guidance and Counselling in schools. She said the budget allocated for the programme is inadequate and appealed to authorities to make more provisions for effective running of the course.

The Head of Department of Psychology Education, Mr Alfred Taylor called for capacity building workshops for counselling teachers to update their knowledge. The President of SCAG, Mrs. Patricia Hogrey said the association would organize outreach programmes for students of basic and second cycle institutions in Winneba to educate them on social vices that could affect their education.

The Patron of SCAG and Omanhene of Effutu, Neenyi Ghartey V11, said counselling plays a crucial role in society and urged policy makers to give the course its desired attention.