VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Education and Training should place school counsellors on the payroll to motivate them more, experts said at a recent workshop.

The experts also said that many students misbehaved because they couldn't find appropriate ways to solve their problems.

They said the number of students with problems was on the rise as they were under heavy pressure from their schools and parents.

The workshop was told students often developed mental problems from family issues, such as parents fighting and getting divorced, from overcrowding and boring curriculums at schools, and from social issues such as fighting and drug use.

A recent ministry survey in Ha Noi and Hai Duong province showed 95.33 per cent of interviewed high-school students and 85.92 per cent of university students had problems in life and at school.

According to the survey, 80.17 per cent of interviewed high-school students often had problems to share and 82.31 per cent said that schools should be equipped with a counselling room so that they could share their problems.

According to the survey, most students expected their schools and universities to employ well-trained counsellors. The students found talking to counsellors more comfortable than talking to teachers.

Vu Van Tra, Deputy Director of Hai Phong Education and Training Department, said that some students became depressed or even committed suicide after being reprimanded by their teachers, and they really needed counsellors to help them solve problems.

Nguyen Tat Thang, Deputy Head of Political Education and Student Affairs Department under the Vietnam National University of Agriculture, said that the Ministry of Education and Training needed to put school counsellors on the payroll as they themselves were lacking motivation.

He said that university students had more complicated problems than high-school students, including housing and learning problems.

He said that the school established a student counselling centre in 2008 which handled about 500 students each month.

Ngu Duy Anh, head of the Students' Affairs Department under the ministry, said counselling activity was often ineffective because students felt shy about sharing their problems with teachers, and that counsellors themselves did not receive appropriate payments to do their job.

He also said that the parents should care more about their children, work with the school and the police if their children had any issues in the school or in the community.

VNS