Summer counselling begins in Delhi government schools to support mental, academic well-being

NEW DELHI: To ensure continued emotional and academic support for students during the summer vacation, the Educational and Vocational Guidance Counsellors (EVGCs) has begun a Summer Counselling initiative across its schools for class 10, 12. The programme that began on May 14 and will run till May 31 is aimed at addressing student concerns related to education, career choices, emotional stress, bullying and substance abuse, a circular from Education Department said.

"The initiative is part of ongoing efforts to provide consistent psychological and academic guidance to students even when regular classes are not in session," it stated. Heads of Schools (HoS) of government schools have been directed to ensure that regular EVGCs who report for duty during the vacation are granted 'Earned Leave' in lieu of this service, as per Central Civil Services Leave Rules.

Record-keeping of sessions mandatory

Guest EVGCs engaged for the initiative will be remunerated according to existing provisions, it stated. Detailed instructions have been issued for maintaining records of the counselling sessions. Counsellors are required to document each session, including the student's ID, class, nature of their concern, subject or career choices discussed and whether parental counselling was provided, it said.

The department also directed school principals must compile this data and forward it to their respective District Counsellor-in-Charges (CICs), who will further consolidate it at the district level and report to the EVGB, it added.