A suicide helpline set up to help anxious students of Class 10 and 12 with suicidal tendencies is surprisingly receiving more calls seeking career advice than from students on the edge. Counsellors trained to help avert suicides are facing queries on career choices. “Of the 100 calls per day, 50 are seeking career counselling,” counsellors at Jeevan Astha helpline told Mirror.

The toll-free number of the suicide helpline was printed on exam hall passes of students appearing for the boards in the beginning of April. However, the number has not stopped ringing even after the exams ended a month ago.

Counsellors have been caught by surprise by these calls. “While half the students call due result anxiety and to handle backlash from parents, the other half are calling to ask the stream they should choose in higher education,” said a Counsellor.

Students are more concerned about their choice for higher education as against earlier years when they were more worried about results. Students are more confident and want to go for higher education and better prospects, said authorities at the helpline.

A senior counsellor, analysing the ratio of students calling for career counselling said, “While it is mostly girls that are calling to ask about further education, boys are a bit biased towards worrying about their performance in the current exams.”

Police Inspector (PI) Pravin Valera, Liaison Officer to the helpline from Gandhinagar Police, said, “Nowadays, students are taking their careers in their own hands and taking the initiative to find out more about what they want to study. The sheer number of calls is overwhelming.”