ASSESSING THE LINK BETWEEN GUIDANCE NEEDS AND ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

Abstract

The present study investigates the guidance needs of secondary school students in relation to their academic performance, with particular emphasis on gender and place of residence. Adolescence is a critical developmental stage characterized by significant physical, emotional, social and cognitive changes, making effective guidance and counselling essential for students' educational and personal development. The study adopted a descriptive survey method, and stratified random sampling was used to select 200 Class IX students from four secondary schools in Ranchi district of Jharkhand. The sample comprised 74 male and 126 female students, including 114 urban and 86 rural students. Data were collected using the standardized Guidance Need Inventory developed by Dr. J. S. Grewal (2019). The data were analyzed using percentages, means, standard deviations, and independent-samples t-tests. The findings revealed that 35% of students had high guidance needs, 21.5% had very high needs, and 27% had extreme guidance needs, indicating that a large majority of students require substantial guidance support. A significant difference was found between male and female students' guidance needs, with male students showing a higher mean score than female students (t = 5.34, p < .05). However, no significant difference was found between urban and rural students (t = 0.96, p > .05). The study highlights the need for systematic and comprehensive guidance and counselling services in secondary schools to address students' educational, vocational, psychological, social, and personal needs and to support their academic and overall development.