Nearly seven in every 10 callers who accessed the government’s mental health helpline for students — (844-844-0632) — in the past six years were middle school students, signalling a rising burden of anxiety among growing children.According to the data shared by the Ministry of Education in Lok Sabha on Monday, 3,32,877 calls were received on the government’s Manodarpan helpline from across the country till March 10, 2026. Of these, 69.1 per cent calls were made by children in Classes VI to VIII, 25.85 per cent by students in Classes IX to XII, 3.72 per cent by Classes III to V and 1.33 per cent by Classes I and II.Region-wise disaggregation of data shows Uttar Pradesh recorded the highest share of callers at 24.94 per cent, followed by Delhi at 14.68 per cent and Bihar at 8.84 per cent. Among the northern states, Haryana accounted for 3 per cent of the callers, Punjab for 2.25 per cent and Himachal Pradesh for 0.58 per cent.Minister of State for Education Jayant Chaudhary shared these statistics in the Lok Sabha on Monday while responding to a question by Rajasthan MP Rahul Kaswan.The Manodarpan student mental health helpline was set up during the Covid pandemic in 2020 to help students in handling stress. Launched under the Aatmanirbhar Bharat Package, the helpline provides psychosocial support to students, families and teachers through a toll-free national tele-helpline. The minister said currently, 69 trained tele-counsellors are engaged across the country to handle calls on the helpline.The government also noted that the service had received multiple calls related to suicidal ideation, which were addressed professionally and referred to the relevant authorities for crisis intervention.The National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) regularly analyses helpline data to track psychosocial concerns among students and guide future interventions under the initiative.