Guidance and counseling over the years has been helpful in areas of social, psychological well being among students in Nigeria schools. There are some notable reasons why there is need for guidance and counseling services in Nigeria secondary schools. Some of the reasons are:

It helps control emotional trauma among students

In Nigeria today, lots of children are going through one trauma or the other; the most prevalent trauma children go through especially the girl child is the issue of rape. Recently, the number of rape cases in Nigeria is worrisome especially among teenage girls. The trauma if not properly counseled might be with the girl child for a long time. Most of them start developing hatred for the male students in school.

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This trauma can only go away by the help of a counselor. Some of the mistake most schools make is engaging the services of a male counselor to counsel female students that are going through trauma especially those with rape cases. This will reduce the performance of the male counselor. It will be advisable for male counselors to counsel the male students while the female counselors to counsel the female students.

It enhance students academic performance

Counseling improves students’ academic performance; during examination most students are usually under pressure of fear of failure, fear of peer performance etc. At the end of the day become confused and might end not even reading or preparing his/her self for the examination; such students are expected to visit the school counselor and explain to him/her what he/she is going through. With the help of the counselor, such student will have a sigh of relieve and prepare very well for their examination.

It boost students self esteem

In every school; be it secondary, primary of tertiary; there are some students that have a very low self esteem. The self esteem affects these students behavioural pattern, association with peer, academic performance, and attendance to lectures or classes. The role of the school counselor here is to identify such students and increase the level of morality among them so as they can mix up with the rest of the students. The counselors will be able to boost the morale of these students by making them believe that all students are equal irrespective of socio-economic status.

It increase the level of sense of belonging amongst students

Most students are in the learning environment but yet they feel left along and detached especially during their first, second and third days at school. Some students end up not coming to school any more. It is the duty of the counselor to ensure that any new students are made to feel very much at home in the school environment. This will help make any new student settle down quickly.
In conclusion; the engagement of the services of counselors in schools helps control a lot of social vices in schools. It is necessary that all school engage the services of a counselor so as to promote students well being in their learning environments.