Tura, April 5: In what can only be described as bizarre, qualified candidates with Post Graduate degree in Counselling Psychology were shocked to find their names disqualified for the post of counsellors in the office of the District Medical & Heath Officer in West Garo Hills, a role that they are professionally trained to do!

This incident is in relation to the post of ARSH Counsellor (RKSK) for National Health Mission, the advertisement for which was released by office of the District Medical & Heath Officer, West Garo Hills, Government of Meghalaya, dated 24th March, 2023. Mentionably, ARSH stands for Adolescent Reproductive and Sexual Health and RKSK for Rashtriya Kishor Swasthya Karyakram.

The qualification for the post as advertised was MA in Social Science or Bachelor Degree in Communication or BSW.

When the candidates holding the Post Graduate degree in Counselling Psychology and Clinical Psychology went for the interview on April 4, 2023, they were declared disqualified as they did not meet the ‘essential qualification’.

The candidates, who did not want to be named, were told by the interview panel about an order they received from the Director that their (candidates) qualifications did not fit with the said criteria and were disqualified at an instance.

“We are concerned as to how or why our qualifications were not considered to be mentioned in the criteria as our degrees makes us eligible to apply for the post of a counsellor as we are professionally trained to do so,” said the candidates who are still in shock.

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They are equally dumbfounded over the qualification criteria because in other states, a counsellor’s job requires Degree in Psychology or Degree in social work or Degree in Social Science/Sociology with 1 yr experienced or diploma in Counselling. Whereas in the State of Meghalaya, people with these degrees are rejected for the very job they are trained for.

They said they have faced similar incidences before and want to know the reason behind it. They argued that disqualifying psychologists for the post of counsellor is unethical because they have candidates who already have worked under the same post with psychology background and counselling is a part of their course.

They further stated that earlier, due to the lack of human resource people from other fields were given chance to work as counsellor. However, now that candidates have proper degree for the post of counsellor, they should have been given the chance to appear for the interview.

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