The department is entrusted with the responsibility of providing guidance and counseling mainly to students in line with their academic development, career development, and personal/social development.
GOALS AND STRATEGIES
The department has set the following goals and strategies.
- Developmental goals
This aims at assisting students to meet their aspirations socially and cognitively. This has been done by encouraging students in various departments to form various subject/academic discussion groups. Spiritual development has been availed through existing religious organizations such as the Christian Union (CU), the Seventh Day Adventists (SDA), and the Young Christian Students (YCS).
- Preventive goals
This aims at helping particularly new students to avoid undesirable behaviour. This has been necessitated by the fact that some of our students are quite young, having left class eight to take artisan courses and may be overwhelmed by the freedom of the Institute life. Guidance is usually given at earliest opportunity during Institute Orientation Days and seminars in the course of the term through informative videos especially on the effects of drug abuse and the impact of HIV/AIDS among others.
- Remedial goals
This aims at helping students who are victims of drug and substance abuse to overcome the habits. Students who have succeeded in breaking the habits including smoking bhang have been identified and made as peer counselors so has to encourage others to say no to drugs.
CHALLENGES
The major challenges experienced by students and KTTI population and hence demanding attention by the G & C department are such as;
- Drug and substance abuse
Given that alcohol is easily available in the neighborhood, it poses challenge especially cheap local brews and others packaged in low cost sachets. The media advertising schemes have contributed in drawing the students to indulging in drug abuse which has been compounded by the easy availability of the same.
However, aggressive awareness campaigns are under way to sensitize the students on the dangers of the illicit brews. The Institute has developed drug and substance abuse policy in conjunction with the National Council Against Drug Abuse (NACADA) with the aim of making Kaiboi Technical Training Institute an alcohol and drug free zone.
- HIV/AIDS pandemic
Although there has not been any openly confessed infected victim in the Institute, the possibility of affected members cannot be overruled. Medical experts regularly come to give HIV/AIDS awareness talk and carry out Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) sessions. There is a strong correlation between drug abuse and HIV/AIDS spread.
- Moral behaviour
Given that majority of the students are in their adolescence stage, they are undergoing identity crisis. As such, the challenge of promiscuous sex is real. More so with the modern technology of web-enabled phones, through which they download phonographic materials. This poses the challenge of possible spread of HIV/AIDS.
- Lack of funds.
At KTTI we strongly, believe that behavior change is the way forward.