Odisha now mulling mobile ban in classrooms not campuses

Bhubaneswar: Amid protests from students, the Higher Education department of Odisha is now planning to ban use of mobile phones inside classrooms instead of campuses.

According to sources, the ban will apply on students and teachers alike. Earlier, the government had plans to ban mobile phones on campus citing its use to be detrimental to study environment.

However, it has decided to withdraw the proposal after protests from students.

“It is a very nice step. We welcome the decision. Had the ban been applied on the whole campus it would have affected us. This step will prevent a lot of viral and objectionable videos that are emerging from classrooms,” said a student Soumyaranjan Mohapatra.

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“Use of mobile phones is a distraction for the user, fellow students and others around. Therefore, we have decided to ban the use of mobile phones inside classrooms instead of campuses. Our objective is to ensure that mobile phones are used only for educational purposes inside campuses,” said Higher Education minister, Ananta Das.