A Survey on The Awareness, Utilization and Effectiveness of Guidance and Counseling Services Among Secondary School Students in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State

Abstract

A survey on the awareness, utilization and effectiveness of guidance and counselling services among Secondary School Students in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State was conducted. Across150 participants were drawn from some selected Secondary School Students through stratified and purposive random sampling technique within Makurdi Metropolis. Descriptive research design of the survey type was used. The participants made up of 55 (37%) males and 95 (63%) females took part in the study. Self-developed questionnaire on guidance and counselling services with 35 items was used for data collection. Three hypotheses were formulated for the study. Independent t-test was employed to test the study hypotheses. The result of the first hypothesis showed that at the alpha level of 0.05 there is a significant positive awareness of guidance and counselling among secondary school students in Makurdi LGA of Benue State (r (148)= .262; p<0.05).The result of the second hypothesis indicated that at the alpha level of 0.05 there is a significant utilization of guidance and counselling services among secondary school students in Makurdi LGA of Benue State (t (148) = 0.36; P<.05). Finally, the result of the last hypothesis showed that there is a significant effectiveness of guidance and counselling services among students (t (148) = 0.79; P <.05). To this end, the study recommended that in order to have all Students access to guidance and counselling services, head teachers and guidance teachersmust address the problems that students face in accessing these services.