Click to play videoThe Karnataka government now proposes to ban the use of mobile phones in schools across the state.
Primary and Secondary Education Minister Basavaraj S Horatti and Health and Family Welfare Minister R Ashok said a circular, to this effect, would be issued in a day or two.
They also appealed to the parents to discourage the use of cell phones by children at home.
Quoting medical surveys, the government says the radiation from cell phones affects children 60 per cent more than it does adults, which could even lead to memory or hearing loss.
To shed more light on the issue was principal of St Mary’s School, Delhi, Annie Koshy who spoke to host Smita Nair on CNN-IBN show, India: 360.
Smita Nair: The ban is not something that the Karnataka government is doing alone. The New York Mayor had also called for a ban on cell phones in school. He reasons being- it is a cause of distraction, students cheat through cellphones and they take inappropriate photos of their classmates. So is a ban on cellphones in school a practical solution?
Annie Koshy: Whether cellphones are necessary or not, is an issue that can be discussed. The parents wish to stay in contact with their children and maintain communication links with their children through cellphones. But they should look at other means of communication rather than cellphones because children have complaints about their parents not having time for them that they don’t talk to them and they are too busy with other things. However, money talks more than anything else. So parents who want to keep in touch with their children and know their feelings should not do it with cellphones but by eye-to-eye contact and hand-to-hand contact.
Smita Nair: If such a ban is imposed in schools, the students are sure to find ways of sneaking in the cellphones in their lunch boxes, under their uniforms. So what is the solution to avoid misuse of cell phone in a class room?
Annie Koshy: We ask the children not to bring cellphones to school but that wouldn’t stop the children from not bringing the cell phone. They hide the cellphone and bring them in. It is important for the adults to try and get the children to listen to instructions, to tell them not to take their cellphones to school and even of they bring it they should use it judiciously and properly. And that is the important message any technology including the Internet also gives.
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