No cellphones for kids below 16: Karnataka govt

NO RING: A blanket ban on phones could be a tough order to enforce and hard for the children to accept.

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Bangalore: Their cell phones are a part of their lives for class X students, Leon and Suhas.

They use it for messaging, listening to music and playing games. However, their talk time could end soon as the Karnataka government has imposed a blanket ban on cell phone usage for children below 16.

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.

“We are further thinking applying it in bus stands and railway stations for people below 16. We will discuss with the police department and ask them to decide on the fines,” says Health Minister, R Ashok.

The state health minister is advocating a ban on cell phones both at school and at home. But the Minister admits that it is easier said than done.

“It is a problem but we request parents to not allow their children to use phones,” says R Ashok.

And it is a decision that the children like Leon and Suhas will find hard to accept.

“In our class of 38 boys at least 30 have cell phones. We use it for our tuitions when we are late and it is not always that we can find a pay phone,” says a student.

Most schools in Bangalore had a self-imposed ban on mobile phones long before the government order.

But a blanket ban on phones, which parents believe are also needed to keep track of their children after school, is a tough order to enforce.