Counselling Secondary School Students with Stealing Tendency: A Cognitive Behavioural Therapy Approach

Abstract

 Most secondary school students complained of their fellow students taking their items without their consent. The problem of
stealing among secondary school students permeates all facets of the life of man and has brought man down to the knees. School
authorities two main goals. The first is to ensure the safety of staff and students and the second to create an environment conducive to
learning. Acts of stealing occasioned by students’ misconducts involving violent and criminal behaviour defeat the goals of education.
The lifetime predominance of stealing appears fairly high. Stealing in secondary schools are influenced by factors such as peer pressure,
family background, buying drugs and alcohol, academic deficiencies and frustrations, lack of Guidance and Counselling and poor
interpersonal relations. Stealing acts among secondary school students are maladaptive behaviours that could cut short the life span of
student if not curbed properly. Teachers and parents have resorted to the use of punitive measure in dealing with students who steal
within and outside the school settings. This approach utilized by parents and teachers in curbing stealing tendency among students have being too unfavourable. Despite the punishment being received by students who engage in stealing, most of them have not quitted the acts of stealing. Therefore, this paper examines counselling secondary school students with stealing tendency: a cognitive behavioural therapy approach.