Schools need to urgently step up their counselling services so that troubled children have someone to turn to.This is the view of community leaders who fear children could be bottling up their emotions because there is not enough support available.They are calling for an increased number of guidance counsellors to lend a listening ear and work with students to prevent them dropping out of school.They have spoken out in agreement with the findings of Monique Keyser, a Columbia University scientist, who found that teenaged boys are being kicked out of school because of insufficient support to deal with issues from their home lives.As reported in The Royal Gazette yesterday, the ‘Out of School and On the Wall’ study recommends putting more counsellors in schools as many young black men are exposed to violence and drugs or alcohol abuse in their lives, leading to behavioural problems in school.This is the follow-up report to the Mincy Report Dr Keyser co-authored two years ago, which found more than half of young black males drop out of school early.The Mincy Report also highlighted the disparities in the ratios of counsellors to students in private and public schools. In private schools the ratio is one counsellor to 35 students, compared to one to 200 in public schools.Grant Gibbons, Shadow Minister for Education, said: “We not only need more counsellors but we need them to start their work with children at a younger age.“Students need someone to talk to and somewhere they feel comfortable talking, away from the classroom.“There has to be a better ratio so these counsellors can offer one-on-one help. One person having to deal with 200 students is not going to be beneficial.”Dr Gibbons said the Mincy Report, which was released in 2009, showed a very clear need for “education, education, education.”The OBA MP said it was “very, very useful” that the follow-up research had added the qualitative research of interviewing ‘dropouts.’But Dr Gibbons questioned whether the much-needed increase in counsellor numbers would take place as “we’ve seen nothing so far.” In 2006/2007 there were 40 school counsellors and in 2010/2011 there were 38.Dr Gibbons said: “A recommendation of the Mincy Report was to have more school counsellors, it was said that counselling services needed to be enhanced, there needed to me more resources for black males.“It was in the Throne Speech and however many Government speeches since then, we have heard the promises to increase the number of guidance counsellors.“But when you look at what has happened, you see nothing has changed at all. It was a promise they never delivered upon.”Sheelagh Cooper, founder of the Coalition for the Protection of Children, said the need for more school counsellors was “plain as day to see.”She said: “We’ve been saying exactly the same thing for years.“There just aren’t the resources to help these people in school and if anything, the situation is getting worse.“Rather than addressing the problems we are taking away the kinds of services these young men would benefit from.“These young men are stressed and are facing few job opportunities.”Ms Cooper said the charity’s recent documentary film ‘Poverty In Paradise: The Price We Pay’ showed a direct link between the stress levels of young men and the likelihood of them joining gangs.She said: “These young men want and need someone to talk to.“This Government is concentrating too much on the bricks and mortar of schools rather than what is going on inside of them.“Better counselling would lead to early detection of emotional issues, it would have a very significant impact on the community.”