Karnataka bans mobile phone for those under 16

Karnataka bans mobile phone for those under 16

Special Correspondent

Ban will also be implemented in schools affiliated

to CBSE and ICSE

Law Department to work out a method to implement

the rules

BANGALORE: In an unprecedented move, the Karnataka Government has decided to ban the use of mobile phones by those below the age of 16 in educational institutions and a circular regarding the ban will be issued in a couple of days.

Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti and the Minister for Health and Family Welfare R. Ashok told presspersons here on Tuesday that the decision was taken because use of mobile phones was harmful to their health and a nuisance in classrooms.

Mr. Horatti said all educational institutions right up to pre-university colleges would be asked to implement the ban. The ban would also be implemented in schools affiliated to CBSE and ICSE.

Shopkeepers, handset manufacturers and telecom operators would be told to stop selling cellphones to those under 16. Serious action would follow if the ban was violated, Mr. Ashok said.

Not just in educational institutions, even at home parents would have to implement the ban. But Mr. Horatti did not specify whether action would be taken against parents if they failed to police their children.

To begin with, if anyone talking in the classrooms on cellphone was found to be under 16, the phone would be confiscated. The Government was considering how to go about this task. It has asked the Law Department to work out a method to implement the rules and to advise the Government if it was legally possible to enforce it.Mr. Ashok, quoting medical experts, said mobile phones adversely affected the health of children. He admitted there was confusion over whether the PU colleges should relax the ban for students above 16.