“This is Gujarat board. How can I help you?”

The helpline for students appearing in Gujarat board's Xth and XIIth standard examinations will start functioning from February 4.
The helpline promises to solve students' exams related queries and also counsel them on various other issues of stress and anxieties. In the helpline there will be four experts available round the clock till the exams start on March 4.

According to sources in the board, this year the Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) is also going to start counselling at seven major districts of the state that includes Ahmedabad, Baroda, Surat and Rajkot. Counselling will be done by the district education offices (DEO).

In 2009, the helpline was started on March 2 and received 23,618 calls in just 22 days, while in 2008 the number of calls were 24,858 in 26 days with maximum calls from Ahmedabad.
Of the total calls received by the helpline, 8,114 were made by students appearing for class X exams while 5,639 calls were from students appearing for class XII exam.

The number of calls relating to exam phobia were 2,906, while 9,036 were for queries related directly to exams.