Children need career guidance, clinical psycologist

Parents have been advised to encourage their children to participate in career guidance activities in order to develop early interest in working towards their chosen careers.

Mr Ebenezer Tetteh Kpalam, Executive Director of Kinder Foundation, who gave the advice, said career guidance activities for children especially students of Junior High Schools (JHS) would enable them to excel in their future careers.

Mr Kpalam, who is a Clinical Psychologist, gave the advice in an interview with the Ghana News Agency on the sidelines of a three-day career guidance camp organised by his outfit for 140 JHS and Senior High School students at Shai - Hills.

He indicated that it was a fact that children who find themselves studying in line with their career path perform better academically and are less truant than children studying outside their career paths.

He added that even though there was no doubt that everybody needed some career guidance and career counselling, childhood was the ideal stage in life to start.

The Clinical Psychologist noted that "as children get to know at early age their career path and career cluster, as well as the steps to follow, they create their own avenues for income".

He stated that it was clear that those who received guidance and counselling during childhood towards their career work are forthcoming with their ideas and innovations leading to increased productivity.

Mr Kpalam said with the help of psychological tools, psychologists and counselling experts guide children to discover their interests and the professions that they would enjoy the most.

"It helps the children to identify their strengths and understand their weaknesses. It helps to reduce the stress teachers go through to improve the academic performance of students", he stated.

He, therefore, appealed to stakeholders of education to support such career guidance camps for school children.