Chennai, September 16 (BPNS)
Students who have taken NEET examination and their parents are upbeat at the latest initiative of the Tamil Nadu government of opening a helpline for stress relief to students who have taken NEET.
The helpline “104” was launched on Wednesday after a third student, T. Soundharya of Vellore district committed suicide on the fear that she won’t be able clear NEET. Soundharya had topped class in her village in Class X and Class X11 examinations.
Dhanush 19 of Salem and Kanimozhi of Ariyalur district had committed suicide on Sunday morning and Monday evening respectively after they were afraid that they may not be able to qualify in the examination.
Divya Rani ,18, a NEET aspirant from Kancheepuram while speaking to BPNS said, “ I have received a call from the helpline and the counsellors told me not to worry and gave me lot of tips to stay in a healthy mental condition. They told me not to worry about the result and congratulated me on having attempted the NEET. Several of my classmates have also received calls and are indeed happy at the government initiative.”
State health minister Ma Subramanian has launched a stress management counselling service for students from Tamil Nadu who appeared for the NEET. The service was launched at the 104 helpline centre in the DMS campus, Chennai after three students have committed suicide allegedly on fear of failure in NEET.
Tamil Nadu health minister, Ma Subramanian while speaking to BPNS said, “The health department has collected the details of all the 1.2 lakh students of the state who have taken NEET and counsellors will directly speak to them. The students would be made aware that exams are not everything and that they can again write exam and can become successful.”
Minister said that the whole 1.2 lakh students of the state would be covered in 10 to 15 days time.
The students were categorized district wise and shared their numbers with the district level officers concerned, the health department officials said. 333 counsellors from district war rooms, government medical colleges and headquarters hospitals across the state will contact the students and after taking their permission will speak to them for at least five minutes.
A counsellor at the helpline centre in Chennai while speaking to BPNS said,” We spoke to a large number of students and around 40% of them said that they were at a loss on the results. We gave them confidence and told them that if at all they don’t qualify, they will get another chance and that there are other carrier options as well.”
Many students, according to the “104” helpline counsellor said that they were afraid that their parents would be unhappy with their performance and hence they were worried.
Sundaramanickyam, 48, a private company employee at Santhome, Chennai while speaking to BPNS said, “ My daughter received a call from the helpline constituted by the government and half her stress is gone. It is much better than what we expected and thanks to the state health department and the Chief Minister, my daughter is back to normal. There is a little stress remaining in her and I think that it would be cleared after more interactions with her.”
