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Students, parents dial 'H' for help
With just a month left for boards, counsellors are swamped with calls.......Priya Ramakrishnan
With barely a month left for board exams, students and parents are feeling the heat. Coming to their rescue are numerous helplines set up to ease some of their stress. Every year, during this time, students turn to the anonymous voice to seek solace from high expectations and depression.
According to the helplines, they get more anxiety calls from parents than students. A volunteer at Samaritan Help-line said, "We get several calls from parents who are worried about their children not studying hard enough. They ask us whether their children will get admission in a good college if they get 70%. At such times, they don't really expect an answer, but just want to share their problems. After all, a worry shared is a worry halved."
Antonio Rodrigues, director of Samaritans, is worried about the shortage of volunteers available for counselling the distressed students and parents. "We have only 15 volunteers and, since there will be an increase in the number of calls from students, we are unable to operate for more than six hours a day," he said. Samaritans had set up camps at schools and colleges last year, but not many students came forward to talk face to face. "The caller likes to keep the identity confidential. Therefore, not many students came forward to seek help from us," Rodrigues explained. Aasra, a 24-hour helpline gets the highest number of calls during February and March. "A week before the exams, the phone doesn't stop ringing. We get around 80 to 100 calls a day during the high-stress period," said Johnson Thomas, director of Aasra Helpline. They had also conducted several workshops at the city colleges and schools in an "Our objective was to let the students know that there is someone to listen. Sadly, there are not many such helplines to support students," he said. To fill such gaps, the helpline also operates over the internet. Students can also send an email to aasrahelpline@yahoo.com or seek help from their website www.aasra.info. Helpline Numbers Samaritan Helpline - 32473267 ( 3 pm to 9 pm) Aasra Helpline - 27546669 (24 hours & 7 days) Disha Counselling Centre - 24384575, 9819478538 Sukoon Counselling Centre - 3675688 / 3621072 Hidden Identify Samaritans , a helpline, had set up camps at schools and colleges last year, but not many students came forward personally to talk fearing stigma URL: http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?newsid=1222682
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