Burnout is a reality as previous Minister reduced number of counselors from 29 to only 4 – former Chair of Substance Advisory Council

Burnout is a reality as previous Minister reduced number of  counselors from 29 to only 4 – former Chair of Substance Advisory Council
Students are being impacted by lack of counselors in schools as the National Substance Abuse Advisory Council’s former Acting Chair, Misaele Driubalavu has highlighted that the number of counselors were cut down from 29 to only 4 by a previous Minister for Education.

While speaking during the public consultation on the review of the Education Act at Albert Park, Driubalavu says their positions were disestablished, reorganised, and redistributed where they moved to work at Marela House.

Driubalavu says there is a need for more counselors as the current counselors are overwhelmed and in the 12 years he was at the Council, he realised they were exhausted, burnt out, stressed and needed to take time off.

He says the Ministry needs to conduct research on the work each counselor does.

While acknowledging the work of the current Council Chair, Driubalavu says apart from counselling they do other work such as teacher training, peer education training, community awareness, and prepare for International Day Against Drug Abuse in June.

He is also recommending research to be done for the amount of work teachers in boarding school do in terms of extra curricular activities as they are not only teaching in the school but they are also supervising students in boarding, sports, extracurricular activities, cultural, church, and so many other things.

Driubalavu also recommends an assessment on the impact of Training of Teachers as well as peer education.

He has also recommended increasing the retirement age of counselors to 70.

Click here for the nationwide review of the Education Act 1966

Stay tuned for the latest news on our radio stations

CFL radio frequencies
Scoreboard
Full Time
Knights 18–19 Roosters
Full Time
Malolo 18–18 Tailevu
Full Time
Nadi 27–23 Naitasiri
Full Time
Taveuni 32–31 Suva
Full Time
Tailevu 38–29 Namosi
Full Time
Naitasiri 24–41 Nadi
Full Time
Macuata 22–39 Suva
11.30pm
Arsenal vs Leeds
2:00am
Aston Villa vs Brentford
2:00am
Ipswich vs Fullham
Full Time
Bula Boys 1–0 Vanuatu