The Tamil Nadu School Education Department’s 14417 helpline is preparing to receive a flood of calls from students and parents as the results for over 8.5 lakh Class XII students are to be announced on Monday.
“Our counselling officers are fully equipped to handle calls and we are expecting queries mainly pertaining to higher education options. Our officers will ask them about their areas of interest, capabilities and then tell them about the options they can explore,” said Paul Robinson, operations head, 14417 Education Information Centre. He said the centre expected to receive a lot of enquiries on medical and paramedical courses, followed by engineering courses and arts and science groups. The officers will also tell the students about the announcements they should look out for pertaining to cut-offs and admission procedures.
“Apart from this, we are also expecting calls from private candidates about their next course of action. The government has already announced that exams will be conducted for them when the situation is conducive,” he added.
The helpline saw a spike in calls in June. “In June alone, the helpline got over 76,000 calls. We normally get around 7,000 calls a month,” Mr. Robinson said.
Of this, around 40,000 calls were pertaining to the conduct of the Class XII board exams and the rest were queries and grievances related to fee collection and issuance of transfer certificates in schools. The helpline also received calls about online classes and how some students were unable to cope with the situation.
The Class XII results are expected to be announced at 11 a.m. and students will receive their results via SMS or they can check them online in the portals set up by the Directorate of Government Examinations.
