Over 2,000 faculty counsellors in Jammu receive training under 'Manodarpan' initiative 

Under 'Manodarpan' awareness programme, the Counselling Cell of Directorate of School Education Jammu in collaboration with Bharti Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Bharti Enterprises, organised online sensitisation-cum-training programme in Jammu Division to create awareness among faculty counsellors.

'Manodarpan' is an initiative of the Ministry of Education to provide psychosocial support to students, parents and teachers during this COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

"More than 2,000 faculty counsellors from 1,100 schools (Higher Secondary and High Schools) of Jammu Division were trained on Stress Management, Managing Emotions and 'Manodarpan' and these faculty counsellors are working in already constituted counselling cells in government schools will further impart these training to students, their parents and teachers," Anuradha Gupta, Director, School Education Jammu said in a communique issued on Thursday.

She said that the training was imparted from August 31 to September 9 in a phased manner using virtual platforms in all the 10 districts of Jammu Division.

Resource persons both from counselling cell DSEJ and Bharti Foundation conducted online interactive sessions.

To make training effective various features were added to the session like pre-post assessments, regular interactions, feedback and polls.

Gupta called upon all faculty counsellors to carry this training forward to the students, parents and teachers, adding, "During this COVID-19 pandemic, the mental health of students, parents and teachers has been adversely impacted and at this crucial time, they need psychosocial support." She appreciated the efforts of Counselling Cell and Bharti Foundation to organise relevant sessions on 'Manodarpan', stress management and Emotions Management.

The Director, however, recognised the foresightedness of Counselling Cell in taking the initiative of psychosocial support to others even before the inception of this idea of 'Manodarpan' by Ministry of Education and asked counselling cell members to conduct a study for impact assessment of such psychosocial interventions.

Romesh Kumar, Head Counselling Cell, assured to work for making these initiatives sustainable to offer psychological support post-COVID times too.

He said that Counselling Cell started its psychosocial support activities even before this government's initiative and its Tele-counselling Helpline 'Aao Baat Karein' was launched in Feb 2019.

He informed that faculty counsellors are actively engaged to offer psychological support to the students even before the launch of 'Manodarpan'.

Anil Bhat, Project Head, Bharti Foundation added, "It has been our constant endeavour to provide rural children access to quality education through innovative teaching-learning methodologies. Technology, especially when schools are closed due to COVID-19, have helped us in ensuring that students across the rural areas continue to stay engaged with education while being at home."