CHALLENGES FACING EFFECTIVE IMPLEMENTATION OF GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING PROGRAMMES IN SELECTED INSTITUTES OF TECHNOLOGY IN NYANZA PROVINCE, KENYA (GUIDANCE AND COUNSELLING PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background Information
The concept of Guidance and Counselling is as old as man. Infact Gibson and Mitchell (2008), say that Guidance and Counselling is man‟s heritage from the past. According to them, it is quite possible that the earliest occasion (although not confirmed) in which humans sought a counsellor, was when Adam reaped the consequences of his eating the apple in the Garden of Eden. In a later occasion, God Himself gave Guidance and Counselling to the children of Israel to help them change their waste disposal behavior by telling them to designate a place outside the camp where they could go to relieve themselves. “As part of your equipment have something to dig with and after relieving yourself, turn back and cover that which comes out of you” (NIV Bible 1973). Gibson and Mitchell (2008), continue to say that no proof exists of this early beginning to counselling, but an abundance of evidence suggests that persons through-out the ages have sought the advice of others believed to possess superior knowledge, insights or experience. Perhaps the first counterparts of the present day counselor were the chieftains and elders to whom the youths turned or were sent to for advice and guidance. In early civilizations, the philosophers, priests and other representatives of gods and religions assumed the role of advising and offering counsel.
As time passed, society, the United States in particular, was growing more complex and finding ones‟ appropriate place in it and adjusting to it were becoming increasingly more complicated. Many adults were turning to such traditional sources of counselling as their family physician, the minister or the employer. As a result, the 20th century seemed ripe for a considered and genuinely scientific approach to meeting many human needs. The time had come for the development of counselling and many psychological oriented programmes to meet these needs. Around that time, many statesmen, philosophers, scientists and educators laid philosophical ground work that would eventually support and nurture an embryonic movement to establish psychology as a science and academic discipline in its own right with an impact on school and community settings (Gibson & Mitchell, 2008).
