Kochi: The students who are finding it tough to deal with stress and anxiety after declaration of examination results can now seek free counseling.
The Indian Medical Association, Cochin, in association with NGO MAGICS has opened a round-the-clock emergency helpline — 0484-7117172’ — where trained counsellors and doctors will attend calls.
“The initiative was started on Wednesday and initially we’ve deployed five experts. We’ll deploy more counsellors based on the number of calls. We’re already getting calls from various parts of the state,” said Johns Augustine of MAGICS.
The helpline will be active throughout this week. “Often students find it tough to deal with stress for two or three days post declaration of results either due to peer or parenting pressure. We’ve extended the facility throughout night too as many-a-times the youngsters take extreme decisions during this period out of dejection,” he added.
The calls made to the helpline will be kept confidential and those requiring individual counselling can share their personal numbers.
“Students will be encouraged to share their concerns and will be provided with adequate solutions to deal with stress and anxiety. Often it’s pressure from parents that the youngsters find it hard to deal with. The parents should not find fault with their kids but instead should try to find out their in-born talents and encourage the same,” said Dr Snovy Manjooran, Psychologist and Special Educator, one of the experts answering the calls.
The others reasons for anxiety include concern about future prospects and comparison with peers (often when they post the results in social media). The police, recently arrested a man at Kilimanoor for cruelly beating up his son for failing to score A Plus for all subjects in the SSLC examinations.
