In colleges, the first line of reference on guidance matters is the tutor, who is usually a teacher who does not actually teach the members of his tutorial group.
This is a deliberate policy to remove guidance from the academic setting and to make it possible for a tutor to help with personal guidance without being hampered by any specific teaching relationship or overtones from the class-room situation.
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This places an extra responsibility on the tutor, namely that of developing a ‘guidance’ relationship with students he does not teach in a limited weekly tutorial period.
At some universities, the word ‘tutor’ is used in a different way. The tutor-guardianship scheme is close to a student advisory system; tutor here is a synonym for a teacher, and ‘guardianship’ implies a caring or helping relation to a ward.
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The tutor can contribute to the guidance programme by:
1. Orienting the members of his group regarding the curricular, co-curricular facilities and ancillary services available in the institution.
2. Collecting different types of information about the student and assisting in the compiling of this information in the cumulative record.
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3. Informing the members of his group regarding the occupational openings.
4. Arranging discussions on educational problems.
5. Orienting the members of his group regarding the facility of scholarships, grants, loans, free ships and concessions available, their eligibility and how to apply for them.
6. Recommending the genuine cases for help.
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7. Acquainting the members with proper study habits and assisting them in their development.
8. Meeting the parents for solving the problems of the students.
9. Arranging visits to places of work like industries, business establishments, offices, higher educational institutions, etc.
10. Detecting symptoms of abnormality in the students’ makeup and drawing the counselling or liaison officers’ attention.
11. Rendering “mental hygiene first-aid” and helping the students remain on the right track.
12. Referring the serious cases to clinicians or psychiatrists.