Ban on using smartphones on campus
The authorities of the Government Hazi Mohammad Mohsin College in Chattogram have banned the use of smartphones on campus for class XI and XII students from Monday.
According to a notice signed by the principal Anjan Kumar Nandi, and the college website, the decision has been taken to ensure the students pay more attention to their studies.
The students have reacted strongly to this decision.
The notice said, “The students of intermediate classes (XII and XII) are forbidden to carry or use smartphones on the college compound. Steps will be taken against anyone violating this rule. The students, however, are allowed to use common phones, without any internet connections, to communicate with their guardians.”
There were government instructions on the matter, Anjan Kumar Nandi told Prothom Alo. This decision being implemented to ensure that the students were more attentive in class, the principal added.
The office order that Anjan Kumar referred to was issued by the directorate of secondary and higher education on 12 October in 2017. It states, “For effective, dynamic and student-friendly teaching and learning, teachers and students are directed not to enter the classroom with cellular phones.”
The teachers and students, as the order says, are both fordbidden to carry phones in the classroom. Use of phones on campus, outside of the classrooms, is not forbidden.
Though the notice did not say anything about the teachers, Anjan Kumar Nandi said he had asked the teachers, personally, not to use phones in the classroom.
Reaction among students
There are 3,200 students in the intermediate classes. On Monday afternoon this correspondent found the studetns talking to each other about the ban.
Two humanities students of class XI said they would use Google often for their studies and now they could not do that anymore.
Many students, still unaware of the notice, brought their smartphones to the class rooms on Monday. The warning against using smartphones was announced in each of the classrooms yesterday.