It was an anxious Friday morning for Deep Saha, awaiting his Madhyamik results, till he dialled 9831960491. Without easy access to the Net, he tried The Telegraph Madhyamik Helpline and found, to his relief, that he had passed with a first division.

?I do not have an Internet connection at home. The school (Prachyabani Mandir for Boys in Dum Dum) could not have given me my marksheet before noon. It took me less than a minute, around 10.30 am, to know my division from The Telegraph Helpline,? said Deep.

From 10 am to around 7 pm, close to 20,000 students had kept all 20 dedicated helplines hot.

?As a newspaper, it has always been our endeavour to provide essential services to our readers in more ways than one,? said Pramath Raj Sinha, managing director, ABP Private Limited.

?On Friday, the Madhyamik results were the only thing on the minds of students and their parents. We thought of making the process simpler for our readers who do not have access to things like the Net by opening The Telegraph Madhyamik Helpline,? he explained.

The process was simple. One just needed to dial one of the 20 numbers and give his/her roll number to the operator who, in turn, would provide the division scored, with the click of a mouse.

?I called up The Telegraph helpline in the first hour after the results were declared and came to know I had got a first division. The service was very quick and fast. I encouraged many of my friends to use the same helpline,? says Darpana Nandy, from Salkia.

The Telegraph Helpline will be activated again for the Higher Secondary results on June 5, when over 4.3 lakh students will await their results.