Just a few days before the new academic sessions begin stringent rules have been introduced where PU colleges have been restricted from using mobile phones in the college campus. Several colleges such as CMR, Rashtriya Vidyalaya, St. Joseph’s college have faced a complete ban on the usage of mobile phones.
While in some colleges among them being Mount Carmel and Presidency College the pupils are however allowed to carry them, but usage is confined inside the classroom plus college corridors. Before, when the decision to ban usage of mobile phones was not taken the previous norms allowed the students to bring the mobile phones along with them who had to hand it over to a person in charge during morning hours who were allowed to collect them back after the classes got over.
In the face of the present set of rules pupils who are not allowed to carry their mobile phones can use the college landline in case they have to make an emergency call. The Students are ready to follow such rules, while some feel it still raises an issue of safety at one point. A few years back the sensational murder of a female PU student was brought into light, blaming the total ban on usage of mobile phone.
Earlier a 23 member committee before the Karnataka Legislature had submitted a single point recommendation which stated that usage of mobile phones leads to the commission of crimes like rape. The committee stated that several such incidents, including the gang-rape of a physiotherapy intern involved the usage of mobile phones, where the use of such devices aided in kidnap and rape of school going as well as college attending girls. In the subsequent recommendations it was stated that seminars along with awareness programs should be made in educational institutions to sensitize the people about the issue. Further, there should be installation of CCTV cameras at police stations to bring clarity in their functioning with women police officers being deputed in each station, setting up of more women police stations that are more feminine centric and sensitive while handling such situations. When BJP was in power it too had imposed a ban on mobile phones in schools, along with colleges citing health concerns from excessive use of such devices.
Similarly, in 2009 the Central Board of Secondary Education had also sought to ban the usage of mobile phones for students, teachers as well as parents, while numerous CBSE schools put a check on the usage of mobile phones but some relaxation is given to students of higher classes.
On the contrary the All India Council for Technical Education had lifted a 12 year old ban on the usage of cell phones from technical institutions this year in pursuance of the Ministry for Human Resource Developments directive that all higher education institutions should be Wi-fi enabled by August, 2018.