The decision of higher education department to put a ban use of mobile phones in the colleges is drawing flak from many quarters. The state minister for higher education, Dhan Singh Rawat had said on Sunday that soon mobile phones would be banned in the colleges.
He said that the decision is being taken to ensure concentration of the students in the classes. The minster also added that if need arises, low range jammers would be installed in the colleges. The former chief minister and general secretary of All India Congress Committee (AICC), Harish Rawat quick to latch on the issue provided by the minister.
Launching a scathing attack on the minister on social media, Harish Rawat said that the minister has failed to provide books to the students and teachers in the colleges but he is planning to install jammers in the colleges. He added that on one hand Prime Minister Narendra Modi is promoting e- learning and on the other such decisions are being taken in Uttarakhand. “If the youths cannot be silenced by use of police baton, it is a good idea to keep them quite by use of jammers,’’ he remarked sarcastically. The state president of the National Students Union of India (NSUI), Mohan Bhandari told The Pioneer that the decision of the minster is retrogressive. “There are many colleges in the mountainous areas which are located in isolated and remote places. The mobile phone helps in providing security to the students. The decision to ban use of mobile phone is outrageous especially when most of the universities and colleges are providing free Wi -Fi to the students.
We will oppose the decision vehemently,’’ he said. The NSUI state president added that the organisation would hold protests in colleges on Tuesday to express protest on the decision. One government college teacher said that the minster Dhan Singh Rawat is experimenting a lot with higher education in the state which is unwarranted and dangerous.
He said that banning mobile phones in this age of information revolution is outrageous. “The internet is of a lot of help for the students and banning the mobile is retrogressive,’’ he said.
