Alha Udal Essay Example for Free

Alha Udal Essay Alha-Udal(from Bhavishya Purana-Part-2) 1 Sootjee said:-â€Å"In vaksara village there lived an abhiri girl named Vratapa. She was fond of doing nava durga vrata in every starting year. She worshipped Chandika Mata for a boon that she asked for herself .She said:-â€Å"Please devi please with my worship and give me a beautiful boon of great child like Valarama and Krishna. Only this I ask from you hey mata swetaishwari†.There lived Vasumaan named king.He saw the abhiri girl and got pleased with her beautifulness. He married her . He begat with her and produce two sons namely Deshraj and Vatsraj . Vatsraj was powerfull and so was Deshraj. Vatsraj’s power was equal to 100 elephants. They won Magadhdesam and they ruled there. There was a Mlechchha king named Satayatta and ruled in Vanaras. His son was strong like bhimasena and always follows his father’s words . He was tall like Taalvriksha(Paam Tree). Therefore his name is Talana.Under his command there is 100s of soldier. By wish Talana came to King Jaichandra for friendship.There came king Jaichandra to Talana but only brought three soldiers with him to test Talana. 2 Soot jee said:-â€Å"In Indraprastha there ruled king Anangapala. To have his own sons he started doing yagya to satisfy lord Shiva. Then lord Siva got pleased with him and king Anangapala got two daughters namely Chandrakanti and Keertimalini. Granddaughter Chandrakanti got married with king Devpala of Kanyakubja and smaller daughter Keertimalini got married with Ajmer king Someshwara.Jai Sharma is Anangapala’s brother who went to Himalayas to do tapasya by this juncture Anangapala gained concentration to rule his empire. Chandrakanti had two sons Jaichandra and Ratnabhanu. Jaichandra was handsome good warrior and with his brother Ratnabhanu won many battles and defeated many kings. Jaichandra ruled east side of Kanyakubja and Ratnabhanu ruled northside of kanyakubja.Jaichandra saw in gauda, banga and other states of maru, sins got expanded. There jaichandra went and punished those sinners of their weightage of sins. Agnivamsa’s lineage was king Gangasimha whose siste r is Biramati. Ratnabhanu got married with her and as prediction of Shiva they got a beautiful child named Lakshman. He was strong enough and  was well known for Khhanda yuddha(Strife war).After seven years Ratnabhanu went to swarga and got pitriloka. Kirtimalini got three sons elder was Dhundukar, middle was Krishna Kumar and small was Prithviraj(Mahiraj and also called some times Bhu raj or Bhupati and Mahipati (not the Mahipati of Mahismati )in the purana). Twelve years they pass their childhood days. When their childhood days were over, Anangapala gave his kingdom and went to Himalaya for tapasya. Dhundukara got Mathura kingdom and Krishnakumara got Ajmer kingdom. All kings obey their parents and always think about their state’s peoples. There were two Kshatriyas who were Chandravamsins namely Pradyota and Vidyota. Pradyota’s son was Parimala and under him was 1 lakh soldiers. Vidyota’s son was Bhishma Simha and he was the senani(captain) of elephantry.When Anangapala died Prithviraj got the kingdom of Indraprastha. He loved his kingdom very much. One day Devi Shakti appeared before him said:-â€Å"Donot conquer the abhiras and extent your kingdom beyond that which may create a big problem in your life and your control for kingdom†. Then Devi disappeared. Jaichandra received two great chandravamsin in his army. By them he made aksahini army. Pradyot, Vidyot and Parimala were mantris of Jaichaichandra and Bhishmashimha got chief of elephantry of King Jaichandra of Kanyakubja. There was a circular shaped kingdom named Mahoba. That kingdom’s king was Mahipati.King Mahipati has two sisters Agama and Malana. He was very upset that till now his sisters were unmarried.He went with marriage welcome to different kingdoms. At last he gave Agama to Prithviraja and Malana to king Parimala. He became happy . After the end of ceremony Prithviraj demanded a fort from king Mahipati. Mahipati then built a fort in Indraprastha. Beyond that fort four caste :Brahmana,Kshatriya,Sudras and Vaishyas living places were also built. That place come to be known as Deholi(Delhi).Prithviraj got control over the village named Deholi. Jaichandra to expand his kingdom took 60 lakh soldier to capture deholi. By that time Prithviraja worshipped Shiv-Shakti for winning and took soldiers for fight. Seeing great number of soldiers in front Prithviraj got afraid. He sent message to Mahipati. Getting the message king Mahipati took 20 lakh soldiers and came to the battle ground. Jaichandra heard the news and warned king Mahipati. Seeing that cleverish chandravamsin arranged extra 20 lakh soldiers and put 60 lakh soldiers in front.by order of kings the war began. By order of Chandravamsin the army  got divided into several parts and attacked deholi soldiers and by this many got injured. Many soldiers of deholi died of unnamed arrows. Seeing that King Mahipati stopped the war. The soldiers of Jaichandra said:-â€Å"Jaichandra is stronger and Prithviraj is fearfull and weaker†. Then Jaichandra said :-â€Å"From today Prithviraj’s state is under my control.† Prithviraja accepted that but in mind he took vow that he will destroy Agnivamsa dynasty.† 3 Sootjee said:-â€Å"One day Ratnabhanu served Prithviraja. By seeing the scene everybody was impressed. Ratnabhanu had a nice necklace which wears by his only wife, the beautiful one Viramati.Prithviraja got awestruck by seeing the necklace.They had son named Lakshana who is stronger.Gangashimha’s second daughter named Divyabibhabari got married with jaichandra. There was a woman slave named Surabha. She was a master of Kama. King Jaichandra was attracted to her. They begat themselves and got a daughter named Samyogini. After 20 years she became the eligible one for marriage. For sayamvara, king Jaichandra arranged everything. He welcomed Prithviraja in that Sabha. He made mind that he will give his daughter to lakshmana only. It for insulting he called Prithviraja.He arranged everything for Kanykubja prince Lakshmana.He called his Brahmin general Chandrabhatta and said:-â€Å"For kanyakubja you built a swarna murti(golden statue) for gift and it will be like Prithviraja.†By hearing this Chandrabhatta went to worship Maa Bhavani to start his work quickly.Jaichandra also invited many kings of different kingdoms.Then the sabha started and chandrabhatta had kept the statue in middle of the sabha.Samyogini saw the statue and got inspired the man and he made his mind that she will marry only the man who is like statue.But in the sabha everybody’s mouth was fulled with name of lakshana. Then Chandrabhatta said to Jaichandra:-â€Å" It was awesome scene outside in our place please sir do observe it†.Jaichandra observed as Chandrabhatta said. From Prithviraj there came 1 lakh elephantry and 7 lakh horse men. 1000 charioters and they are all trained arrow mens.1 lakh foot soldiers in them 1200 mens are with strength . 100s of footsoldiers protecting Prithviraja infront .Hundreds of hundred family member came from Prithviraja in which his wife also was present.King of Kanyakubja Ratnabhanu came there . Dhundukara came with his elephantry.There also came Krishnakumara.They were the doorkeeper seeing that if anybody will do mischief will be sent out of the place.In betwwen  200 km the strenghiest army is being placed.In between there was Jaichandra and Prithviraja who were surrounded by 1 lakh elephantry and 7 lakh foot-soldier. There was 8 lakh soldiers protecting the place.Those surrounding soldiers of Prithviraj were Suklavamsin. Everywhere there was standing soldiers for wars. In Ishana direction there were kurmahara who sat and building the vocal musical equipments.There also present Mahipati, Bhishma Shimha,Parimala and Chandravamsin warriors Pradyot and Vidyot.They were surrounded by foot-soldiers who were ready to do a continue war for five days.There were 10 thousand elephantry and horse were in lakhs. Also present there 5 lakh footsoldiers near them.There present 300 chariots. There present king Ratnabhanu who is protected by 100 elephantry , 3 lakh foot soldiers and 1 lakh horsemen. Thus that place creates an illusion of heaven(Swarga puree) . In one side Sanyogita(Sanyogini also called Samyogini) was thinking of getting Prithviraja as her husband.She heared of the name coming around the sabha was lakshana and she saw lakshana was not the person alike the statue.Therefore she became sad and again and again calling Mahadeva and Mahadeva in mind.MahaDeva got pleased with her and released Maya on Prithviraja. Prithviraja got deluded in the maya and looked over Sanyogita and got attracted to her beautifulness. He then arrived towards her and by seeing him she got fainted.He took up her body and arranged all soldiers of him which he brought into the sabha. He forcefully took the body of Sanyogita and fled to his country Deholi with all of his Deholi soldiers. When these news reached to ear of everyone present in the sabha , there started a chaos. Then king Jaichandra kept half of the soldiers in entrance of the state and his house. His soldier chieftain chandravamsin brothers Pradyot and Vidyot reorganize the rest half of the soldiers present in the state.They all declared war on Prithviraja and came to Kurukshetra region for the war.Suddenly the war began.Horsemen fought with Horsemen and elephantry fought their opponent’s elephantry.It started to build a fearful in shape. In the end of the day they lost their strong soldiers.They all feared and with King’s order they stopped the fight and took their respective places to spend the night. In morning with the order of Pradyot , they began the fight with chieftains of Deholi.Vallama(a pointed metal headed weapon) sounded with opponent’s Vallama. Dhundukara continuously shot arrow towards Pradyot. The well-known Varuna-astra when  struck to Pradyot he got senseless and fell down.There came Dhundukara and put pradyot to death.In that mament Krishnakumara was doing war with elephantry.By angry mood Krishnakumara shot Surya-ashtra. With that divine arrow many got dead.Vidyot also died from that arrow with his soldiers.Ratnabhanu then came to that pace and started the fight.Then Prithviraja arranging 1000 elepnahtry and went to do war with Lakshana.With Shiva’s boon King Prithviraja was strong and agry with Bishmasimha and Parimala he shot fearful Rudra-astra to Lakshana.To save Lakshana Ratnabhanu went there and took the arrow in his body and got fainted and fell down.The illusion of Rudra-ashtra had deluded Dhundukara which is seen by his brother Prithviraja. He then to cut off the illusion shot Vaishnava-astra.Therefore by maya-cutter vaishnava-ashtra Ratnabhanu also got his sense.He got up and fought with Krishnakumara violently.Both were dead under the paws of elepha nt.Others were died by naga-ashtra(snake creating arrow) and Kharga(rounded shaped big knife).Many paths opened in the fierce full war but the path of winning is still very far. After the end of the day the deadbodies of great warriors were carried off in their resting region region. The soldiers of Kanyakubja when saw teir king was dead they got feared.About five lakh died soldier’s wives were present there crying in grief ,falling and fainting by seeing their family membersare dead. Kings of both side got fear by the scene .Ratnabhanu and those who were dead were cremated by hidu dharma(were burnt in fire).The army of Jaichandra want to surrender themselves in the next morning to Prithviraja.When Suryadeva appeared in the morning and it’s rays fall every-where. Both-sided flags were raised again. Bhishmasimha, Parimala and Lakshmana were in sadness as their fathers were dead.They came out and laid friendship with Dhundukara.There army of Prithviraja sang Prithviraja won and king Jaichandra lost. Therefore Jaichandra and others laid friendship with Deholi king Prithviraj. Jaichandra of kanyakubj and Deholi king started a big ceremony with happiness in mind. 4 Sootjee said:-â€Å"In ganga dynasty the first worshipped god is Indra. Bhishmasimha also after birth ,started to worship Indra.(Shakra deva).Oneday he started to do strong tapasya of Indra by worshipping Surya deva.He prayed:-â€Å"Please god give me a divya (magical) boon and please with my  prayer god Indra!†.Indra got pleased and gave him a divne female deer(divya harini).Bhishmasimha was very happy with this and every day to satisfy Indradeva praised Indra with his stotra(prayer) and meditate on him.One day king Parimala was very sad because his father was dead.He praise the earth and stated to worship Shiva.Shiva to examine him gave him a strong disease named Sarparoga.After five months went the strength of the king Parimala broke down.† He knows that if he did pray lord Shiva in mind , many strong diseases will get vanished.Therefore he did not stop praying lord shiva in mind.With his fatal health,king took his own family to Kashi.Under the banyan tree they spend their night.King said in mind :-â€Å"Your name is always in my mind†.Hearing this beautiful words lord shiva took form of snake and went there.King to get well praising shiva again and again falling on the floor of kashi temple saying:-â€Å"If you lord did not remove the disease from my body,I will not drink water and take food†.Hearing this lord shiva immediately healed the disease.The happiness got filled in his mind and body.Expressing the happiness he said everybody present there what had happened to him and how did he got cured? . Then king Parimala tells to bring oil to bath Shiv linga.†Sootjee then said :-â€Å"Who will hear this story will get cured from sins attached to body.† Sootjee said:-â€Å"Painting a picture of snake bearing shiva in mind,king Parimala started bathing linga of Shiva situated in Kashi temple.The the king did Sashtanga pranayama- mudra to praise lord Shiva.His wife gave Bhoga(a hindu belief of giving food to god ,so that god may eat and touch the food and make it a divine one) to Lord Shiva. Then King sarted to praise shiva with this stotra:- â€Å"Thatho jaatam sayam lingam mam gushtavyam sanatanam. Jyoti rupam sarva laksha samanvitam. Nishi thhe tha maththadadha the dikshu suryatvam aagatham.† By this for one month of worship king pleased lord Shiva.He painted lord Shiva in mind to please Shiva.Having pleased with king lord Shiva appeared before him and told to ask a boon from him.By hearing this King Parimala said:-â€Å"if you god truly pleased with me then please stay in my house always.†Shiva blessed him with the boon and vanished in the linga.Every day king distribute gold to peoples.Having pleasing everybody king with happy mind went to mahavati-puree.Every-body was astonished to see the fully cured king.After the end of the year he went to the state of kanyakubja to meet king Jaichandra.Seeing king Parimala everybody got happy and  over-joyed.Every body is seeing the miraculous king who had cured the fatal disease.Seeing the cured king Raja jaich andra was also overjoyed.He said to Parimala:-â€Å"The peace will not stay for so long in the states and you caused happiness to every of my subjects also me ,hence I assure you of future help when you will be in need. †By hearing the pleasant assurance of help from King Jaichandra, King Parimala went to his kingdom.† Sootjee continued :-â€Å"To get boon Lakshmana everyday worship Lord Vishnu and every day pray by these words:-â€Å"I you were not there ,I may not be alive today.You are the real protector O Vishnu!.Please give me a divya (divine) vahana(carriage,in hindu, an animal who used to carry men from one place to another) by which every enemy can be destroyed easily.†Then Jagannath dev from his leg created a divine chariot carried by elephant named airavat sent it to lakshman through king.After that with everybody king Parimala went to Mahavati puree.There great Talana the son of king Venarasa was drinking a sweet intoxicating drink made of honey. Mahavatee puree’s king Mahipati was sitting in his own place.Then Talana went there and said to king :-â€Å" Hey rajan please kind with me and give me what I want.†At the end of the month the great Talana repeated the same word,then rajan realized of his want.To please him and to remove sadness from his mind he went to Venaras and gave the kingdom to Talana after consulting to Venras king Satayatta. Mahipati then came to his home and gave a fort to Deshraj and Vatsraj ,the abhiri kings .That fort was situated in between mountains and decorated with flowers ,creepers.The gentle winds blows there making the place lively. The two sons :- Vatsraj and Deshraj was like his parents strong and brave. Then Talana the mlechcha king of venaras having declared as Yuvaraj of his kingdom was very happy.He was fond of Rakshashas. Therefore he called the mlechchas of his kingdom to have a great ceremony in mahavati puree for worship of May danava(a famous danava created by Vishnu,does works like Vishwakarman in rakshasha kula and a famous character in Ramayana).To attained that ceremony there came Deshraj and Vatsraj after crossing mountains.Many kings came to attained the ceremony.There present 60,000 warriors surrounding Talana.There present ministers,brothers,and kings who are chandravamsins.Everyone praising the great Talana. 5 Sootjee said:-There was a king named Jambuka ruled in Mahismati who is  freared of Prithviraj .With prince Kaliya he lived in the place which is situated near Narmada river.He is the friend and general of Prithviraj.King Jambuka does worship of the earth and different dev devis(god and goddesses) .Then he started to do worship of lord Shiva.For want of boon King Jambuka everyday does worship of Lord Shiva. The king said:-â€Å"Hey Mahadev what boon you want you give it to me.†Then Lord Shiva appeared before him and said:-â€Å"Hey king you are the best worshipper of me.Let you and your soldiers be undefeated.†The lord Shiva disappeared.The Rajan to show his love towards Lord Shiva ,he went to Maheshwaram teerth with his prince Kaliya and took his soldiers there. Seeing the beauty of the place everybody got wonderstruck and they all praised that place. Rajan said:-â€Å"Everyday we must worship Pritri deva† and by saying this he went to ganga for tarpan(an hinduic tribute to pitri deva i.e forefathers) .King said :-â€Å"hey pitri dev please keep my body and soul purified†.By doing sradhdhic tarpan rajan praised Mata Ganga with vidhis the king went to his own house.Kaliya’s sister name is Vijayasini.Kaliya asked his sister :-â€Å"what should I give you that is beautiful and precious in your eyes†. Then his sister said:-â€Å"Give me necklace and precious jewels.†Kaliya then went with lakhs of horsemen and did bath in ganga.Then after doing bath in ganga implying all vidhis(rituals) he gave many danas(gifts) to brahmanas. Afterbathing, Kaliya looks for the necklace, first in Kanyakubja (Kanauj), but learns Kanauj is wealthless.He saw king is strong but the state is filled with dues and there is shortage of wealth. Then he then learns to attack Mahoba as he saw that Mahoba is filled of wealth and j ewels.Prince Kaliya then went with 1 lakh Horse men to Mahavatee puree to get necklace and jewels for his siter.There went general Mahisena with king and his soldiers and warned that to give all the wealth they has or fight with them. Mahipati got feared and called Lord Shiva again and again saying either you give welth or please protect me and my soldiers from wrath of king Jambuka.Then Lord Shiva appeared and said to king :-â€Å"Hey king please say the thousand names of Mata Chandika to protect you and your Soldiers.†Then king said the thousand names of Mata Chandika and protected him and his soldiers.Then kings send his generals for fight.He took help of Kanyakubj ruler Jaichandra. Another side for not getting their demand Mahisena and his soldiers get ready to fight.Then king Jaichandra came to fight with the soldiers.There came Deshraj with thousand Naga  warriors.There came Vatsraj with 16000 horsemen.At last came the soldiers of big Talana.There started a fierce full war between them.It goes on till night.Jaichandra was about to win the war. Suddenly there entered the friend of Prithviraja, Jambuka with soldiers of mahismati.The soldiers,Kaliya and king Jambuka went everywhere and started fighting .Jambuka went middle of the battlefield with half of the soldiers and put Mahadeva(Lord Shiva’s) Moha(illusive) arrow in his bow and shot it to the opponent soldiers. The arrow is full of Sidhdha mantra by which the opponent soldiers fell down to ground.Then with sword they started to kill the opponent soldiers. The soldiers of mahismati started to praise their king.Everywhere spread fear.There came Bhisma Shimha with soldiers.With Surya-datta(Surya-astra) arrow he cut of the maya i.e illusion. Then everybody of his friendly soldiers got up but getting their senses.Then taking sword they cut off the opponent’s soldier’s body. Many fall senseless,other got pressed under the paws of elephant and many got wounded by number of arrows.Then mahismati soldiers accumulated themselves and started fating with opponents.Sword tore and fell to the ground and many got killed and fell to the ground.There came big Talana and stared stomping over his opponent and tearing them apart with sword. He defeated his opponent Kaliya and his soldiers.Many got killed and King jambuka was injured and fall to the ground. With very strength he prayed to sankara(shiva).By that time both side’s half of his soldiers are dead.Shiva spread his maya.Then King Jambuka got up and gathered his half of his soldiers and went from the battlefield.Thus king Parimala defeated his opponents.Everybody sang of their win.Seeing they have won the battle Jaichandra was surprised. Talana organized their half of the army. Then Bhishma Shima went to his house. After five months all kings went to house Bhishmasimha. Because his wife ,the daughter of Gurjara(gujrat)king named Ravyadaalasaa gave birth to a divine child .Every king gave number of wealth to Bhisma-simha.By the order of lord shiva the portion of Sahadeva took birth in the house of Bhismashimha.The child’s name is Deva-simha, a well-known warrior and knowledge-able person of the future.

Skating on Thin Ice :: essays research papers

Skating on Thin Ice   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The Olympic Games have been around for hundreds of years. They are something that people everywhere around the world look forward to all year long. Athlete or not, everyone knows what the Olympics are. With the extreme popularity comes extreme broadcasting. Millions of people turned on their televisions and radios, read newspapers and magazines, and searched the web to hear the results and news about the games this winter. Broadcasting feeds people. They crave to hear the latest scandal, see footage of the most recent event, and be informed of what is going on in the world that they live in. This year the figure skating competition drew a particularly enormous audience. Because a scandal was involved, figure skating received special attention, which left the sport with a new reputation. Media is a powerful thing; this was proven this year during the winter Olympic games.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  A lot was heard, and learned, about figure skating during the past month of Olympic coverage. This year, a problem with judging and secret deals caused two gold medals to be given out; one to the Russians and one to the Canadians. What happened off the ice seemed juicier than the actual competition, according to many sources of media. What is interesting, is that controversy is not uncommon to the sport of figure skating. A Newsweek article, â€Å"The Sleazy Side of Skating,† gives many examples of past figure skating scandals. In 1908, at the London Olympics, Russian Nicolai Panin withdrew from competition, saying the judges were stacked against him. At the 1936 Games, a Hungarian judge placed the Hungarian skaters second and third, which stood out when no other judge had placed them higher than seventh. In 1927 at the World Championships in Oslo, a Norwegian skater placed first, thanks to three Norwegian judges. That led the International Skating Union to restrict each country to one judge. Although these are significant examples of figure skating trickery, they were not really important until now. Journalists are researching the history of figure skating, and making known scandals that had occurred in the past. In 1993, Tonya Harding’s husband paid $6,500 to have Nancy Kerrigan injured so his wife could have an advantage. The Harding-Kerrigan scandal was this country’s first real taste of the drama that goes on with figure skating. Because a scandal involving money and crime took place, it was shown all over television, and talked about on the radio.

Importance of Couseling Essay

The study was limited to only sixteen secondary schools: thirteen government secondary schools and three mission secondary schools in Benin City with practicing school counsellor(s). In all, there were four hundred and twenty respondents (420). Sex was not a factor in the study. Two four-point Likert type scale questionnaires were used to obtain data for the study. These are: Secondary School Counsellors’ Questionnaire (SSCQ); and Secondary School Students’ Questionnaire (SSSQ). The reliabilities of 0.69 and 0.80 were obtained respectively SSCQ and SSSQ using the Cronbach Alpha Internal Consistency reliability. The findings show that there are insufficient counsellors in schools; inadequate availability of counselling facilities; and that the qualification of guidance and counselling personnel has impact on the quality of guidance services they provide to secondary school students in Nigeria. These findings suggest that these variables will help to promote students’ adjustment in the school and the society at large. Paradoxically, the absence of these variables could precipitate students’ maladjustment. Recommendations on ways of improving guidance and counselling services to promote students adjustment were proffered. Keywords: Counselling Qualities; Guidance and Counselling; Students adjustment;; Nigeria 1. Introduction Guidance and Counselling happens to be one of the developments in the field of Education in Nigeria. It became popular with the introduction of the 6-3-3-4 educational system. It is generally accepted that in Nigeria, the organized/formal guidance started in 1959 at St. Theresa’s College, Oke-Ado in Ibadan by some Reverend Sisters, out of concern for the products of their school. They felt that there was need to offer vocational guidance to their outgoing final year students. As a result, the Rev. Sisters invited twenty educated people from Ibadan community who were in different professions and therefore knew more about the emerging world of work than the students and the Rev. Sisters. Fifty-four out of the sixty students benefited from the experts’ advice and were placed in various jobs. The innovation was highly accepted by the society because in later years this group of people, though not trained counsellors, organized career talks, seminars, guidance workshops and lectures for the class five students. Later on, the vocational guidance services spread to other secondary schools outside Ibadan and across the entire federation. The ministry officials became so interested in these organized services that this group of â€Å"Career Advisers† was invited to provide career workshops for teachers and career masters. Eventually the term â€Å"Career Advisers† became a national issue. In an attempt to overhaul the old educational system, towards the needs of the nation, the Nigerian Educational Research Council (NERC) in September 1969 organized a conference on curriculum development. The curriculum conference was followed by a government sponsored National Seminar in 1973 under the chairmanship of Chief S.O. Adebo to deliberate on all aspects of a National Policy on Education using the report of the 1969 curriculum conference as the working document. The conference came up with recommendations for a New National Policy on Education, which the Federal Government accepted and published in 1977 and revised in 1981, 1989 and 2004. With the highlighted changes in the Nation’s educational system, the need for guidance and counselling services in Nigerian secondary schools became more glaring. Consequently, Guidance and Counselling Services became an integral and essential component of the educational process for all students as they progress through the educational system. According to Egbochuku (2008), the aims of school guidance and counselling services, which are based on a developmental hierarchy, are to provide students with: 1. Opportunities to develop knowledge and appreciation of themselves and others; 2. Opportunities to develop relationship skills, ethical standards and a sense of responsibility; 3. Opportunities to acquire skills and attitudes necessary to develop educational goals which are suited to their needs, interests and abilities; 4. Information that would enable them to make decisions about life and career opportunities (: 15). Today, guidance and counselling has gained prominence in t he Nigerian educational system and many people are getting interested in the guidance of youth in making wise educational, vocational and personal/social decisions. Consequent upon the expansion of counselling activities in Nigeria and the need to form a larger association to embrace both counsellors and career masters, the Counselling Association of Nigeria (CAN) was launched on the 11th November 1976. To facilitate efficient management of guidance and counselling services in Nigeria secondary schools, guidance and counselling personnel are being trained in the tertiary institutions and sent to schools to deliver these services. Also, basic courses in guidance and counselling feature in all teachers-education programmes. Prominent among the services rendered by guidance and counselling personnel in secondary schools are Information, Appraisal, Referral, Guidance, Counselling and Planning, Placement and follow-up services for the proper guidance of students. Against this background therefore, the focus of the study is to assess the realities of guidance and counselling services in providing adequate guidance for Nigerian secondary school students. 1.1. Statement of the problem It is assumed that with the increasing complexities in the society, industrial and technological development all going hand-in-hand, the succeeding generation will find it difficult to adjust themselves both to the society, work, family and schools. Failures in proper adjustment to all the facets mentioned could affect the education of young people and expose them to environmental as well as personal problems in development. Guidance and Counselling, as a delivery service, should not be misconstrued as the traditional type that is based on the principles of â€Å"to guide, to direct on a course, to enlighten, or to assist†. This traditional type of counselling was principally carried out in African setting by heads of families, Priests, and church leaders (Olayinka and Omoegun, 2001). Because of the complex nature of Nigerian society, the counselling profession has assumed a wider role. Present day Guidance and counselling is based on the process of helping individuals understand themselves which will lead to the better understanding of the other aspect of their lives (Egbochuku, 2008).   According to the literature, these services are the formalized actions taken by the school to make guidance operational and available to students. These formalized actions typically consist of a set of processes, techniques and functions that serve to carry out the guidance and counselling goals of a particular educational level. For students to be properly informed, they need the assistance of trained guidance and counselling personnel. Hence, the government made it a policy that guidance and counselling should feature in teacher-education programmes because teachers are closer to the students. Furthermore, the department of Guidance and Counselling has been established in most Nigeria Universities to train counsellors at the B.Sc., Master and PhD levels, to equip them with the appropriate counselling techniques to carry out guidance and counselling services in secondary schools. There is need therefore to assess the guidance and counselling services rendered by school counsellors to find out if these services actually provide adequate guidance for students’ development. It is therefore hypothesized that Qualification of guidance and counselling personnel, availability of guidance and counselling facilities, quality of guidance and counselling services will not significantly predict students’ adjustment 1.2. Purpose of the study This study assessed the quality of guidance and counselling services in secondary schools with practicing school counsellors in Edo state. To achieve this, the researcher examined the qualification of personnel providing guidance and counselling services, availability of materials for the successful execution of Nigerian secondary school guidance and counselling services and the impact of guidance programs on students’ adjustment. 1.3. Significance of the study Guidance and counselling is the bedrock for achieving self-actualisation. It is a process of helping individuals to understand themselves by discovering their own needs, interests and capabilities in order to formulate their own goals and make plans for realizing those goals. An analysis of guidance and counselling services in providing adequate guidance for secondary school students is of paramount importance; hence the this study. The result from the study will help in throwing more light on how guidance and counselling services is being implemented in secondary schools in Nigeria and the quality of guidance services received by secondary school students. In addition, it provides information to education planners and school administrators on their responsibility in providing adequate facilities for guidance and counselling services in order for students to receive quality guidance. It also reveals the extent to which guidance and counselling services influence the total development of the potentials and proper adjustment of secondary school students. 2. Methodology This is a survey study using correlational research design. The scope of the study covers some selected government and mission secondary schools with practicing school counsellors in Benin City of Edo State Nigeria. This is because Benin City is a metropolitan city and consists of three well-populated Local Government Areas (Egor, Oredo, Ikpoba Okha LGA) in Edo –South Senatorial District, out of the 18 LGAs in the 3 Senatorial Districts of Edo State. Purposive sampling techniques and simple random sampling techniques were employed in selecting the sample for the study. This study was limited to only sixteen (16) secondary schools thirteen (13) government secondary schools and three mission secondary schools in Benin City because only these schools had practicing school counsellor(s) as at the time the study was carried out. In all, there were four hundred and twenty respondents (420). Sex was not a factor in the study. 2.1. Instrumentation Two different four-point Likert type scale questionnaires were designed by the researcher to obtain data for the study. These are: (1) Secondary School Counsellors’ Questionnaire (SSCQ); (2) Secondary School Students’ Questionnaire (SSSQ) The SSCQ consisted of two main sections viz: Section ‘A’: This consisted of three items requesting information about the level of qualification in guidance and counselling from the respondents. Section ‘B’: This consisted of five items requesting information about the availability of guidance and counselling facilitiesmaterials in the school. The SSSQ also consisted of two sections viz: Section ‘A’: This consisted of eleven items eliciting information about the quality of guidance services rend by counsellors in the school from the respondents. Section ‘B’: This consisted of twelve items requesting information about the impact of guidance and counselling services on Nigerian secondary school students’ adjustment. The respondents in each case were requested to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed to each item. Items one to three in section â€Å"A† of the SSCQ and items one to eleven in section â€Å"A† of the SSSQ were used to test hypothesis one. Items one to five in section â€Å"B† of the SSCQ and items one to eleven in section â€Å"A† of the SSSQ were used to test hypothesis two. Items one to eleven in section â€Å"A† of the SSSQ and items one to twelve in section â€Å"B† of the SSSQ were used to test hypothesis three. The scoring of the instruments was as follow: Strongly Agree (SA)-4 Agree (A)-3 Disagree (D)-2 Strongly Disagree (SD)-1 For all positive worded items the above was the case, while the reverse was the case for all negative worded items in the questionnaire. 2.1.1. Validity and Reliability of the instruments Both construct and face validity was established. The reliability of 0.69 and 0.67 were obtained respectively for sections A and B of the instrument for Counsellors (SSCQ) using the Cronbach Alpha Internal Consistency reliability test. The Students’ Questionnaire (SSSQ) yielded an alpha coefficient of reliability 0.80. 2.1.2. Administration of the instruments Permission was obtained from the school before administering the questionnaires, which were personally administered by the investigator to the respondents in the various secondary schools selected for the study. 2.2. Analysis of Data Descriptive Statistics and Pearson Product Correlation were used were used for analysis. 3. Results Variables Qualification of guidance and counselling personnel Quality of guidance services The table 1 shows an r. value of .169 testing at an alpha level of .05 and a p< .001. The p. value is less than .05 (p

The Reconstruction Era Was A Time For America To Heal,

The Reconstruction Era was a time for America to heal, a time to recuperate and move forward, but certain things take longer than others. One issue that took tremendous effort was the advancement of African-Americans. Freedman were freed by law, but still mentally, socioeconomically, and socially bonded to oppression. Even after the Civil War ended, the fight wasn’t over; there was a war within the government itself, and a greater fight for freedman to achieve economic freedom without barriers. As the Reconstruction Era went on, any implementations used to help the freedman become successful and active in society disadvantaged them, giving leverage to whites labeling them as lazy and making the whites worker harder. One step to†¦show more content†¦Although Democrats didn’t want African-Americans to receive a helping hand, the ultimate mission of the Bureau was working. â€Å"The statistical reports prepared†¦show a steady and healthy decrease†¦of de pendents from month to month† (Hewitt Lawson, 434). In spite of the work of the Bureau and sharecropping, freed people still lacked what they wanted most; economic sovereignty. Democrats, Republicans, and African-Americans during the Reconstruction Era had three different perspectives of freedom, and what efforts needed to be made to make everyone in the country unite. Everyone got what he or she wanted in the end except for African-Americans. Democrats were given the industry of sharecropping, Republicans â€Å"helped† the freed people, but African- Americans were still inferior and treated as slaves. Freedmen were able to work and become citizens, but where they truly free once slavery ended. 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