Coronavirus lockdown: Calcutta University begins free online counselling service for students' mental well-being

Calcutta University has started free online psychological counselling service for all its students to beat any stress during the COVID-19 lockdown. “University’s Psychology and Applied Psychology Department will arrange psychological counselling for students in stress during the time of lockdown,” s aid Sonali Chakravarti Banerjee, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Calcutta. The university has also issued a circular with the name and number of the faculty members whom the students may call at specified time slots for counselling services. [caption id=“attachment_7541421” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File image of Calcutta University. Wikimedia Commons[/caption] Thirteen teachers - five from the Department of Psychology and eight from the Department of Applied Psychology - will provide counselling session to students of undergraduate and postgraduate courses. As per a report by news agency PTI, an official of the university said that the online counselling service will be available for 12 hours daily. The official said that most students are reeling under different types of stress in the present situation after being confined within their homes, which may lead to mood swings and tiff with family members. The students may also have queries related to career with all academic schedules delayed, the official added. “Teachers of the two departments will be listening to the problems of each caller with patience and seek to address their concern,” the official was quoted as saying. The country is presently under a 21-day lockdown that came into effect from March 25. The step has been taken by the Government of India to restrict the spread of novel coronavirus. India has reported close to 200 deaths due to coronavirus and the virus so far has infected more than 6,400 people