ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Mental Health and Wellbeing in Education
Volume 10 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/feduc.2025.1548424
This article is part of the Research TopicHolistically healthy humans: championing mental and physical wellbeing in educationView all 7 articles
Practice and Effectiveness of Guidance and Counseling in Nepali Schools: Role of Learning Strategies, Self-Management, and Social Skills
Provisionally accepted
- 1Nepal Open University, Lalitpur, Nepal
- 2Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Nepal
- 3Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal
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This study investigates the status and effectiveness of guidance and counseling (G&C) practices in Nepali schools, focusing on three domains: learning strategies (LS), self-management (SM), and social skills (SS). Through a quantitative survey of 384 teachers, counselors, and headteachers across seven provinces of Nepal, we assessed G&C practices using a validated 30-item questionnaire adapted from ASCA (2021) standards. We evaluated four school performance indicators-school environment, student behavior (e.g., social/emotional conduct), academic achievement, and post-school success-using teacher-reported 3-point scales (i.e., Good, Normal, and Needs Improvement). Using binary logistic regression, we tested four hypotheses. We found that social skills (SS) were a strong predictor of better student behavior (odd ratio (OR) = 2.371, p < 0.05), which was shown by fewer conflicts and better ethical behavior. Infrastructure (dedicated counseling rooms: OR = 2.838) and trained counselors (OR = 2.929) strongly enhanced school environments. LS and SM interventions did not significantly impact academic outcomes (e.g., test scores, dropout rates). Critical gaps include inadequate training in LS/SM strategies (e.g., only 9.6% of schools had counselors; teachers struggled with goal-setting and coping skills guidance). The findings emphasize the importance of conducting teacher workshops focused on delivering Learning Support and Student Mentoring (LS/SM). Additionally, there is a need for institutional support to improve counseling infrastructure and to integrate structured G&C frameworks. This study offers practical suggestions, such as creating specific areas for counseling and setting up uniform training programs to improve G&C services in places with limited resources.
Keywords: Guidance and Counseling, Social Skills, School environment, teacher training, Education, Educational Policy
Received: 19 Dec 2024; Accepted: 14 Jul 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Khadka, Dirgha, Subedi, Acharya and Dahal. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Niroj Dahal, Kathmandu University, Dhulikhel, Nepal
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