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Chattisgarh to ban cell phones on campus, Pg.7, Hyderabad edition)It is an audacious move by the adminstration of the state.
College education is the basic hurdle to be cleared either for an admission to a Post Graduate course or a job in a reputed organization. Students were admitted to Engineering colleges after thorough screeining in entrance examinations and only the meritorious made the cut. Of late, with the mushrooming of private engineering colleges all over, demand-supply gap has reduced and even the undeserving is admitted through the back door i.e., management quotas. Anyone with moolah can just get in.It is seen that in most of the cases of ragging reported, the back door entrants ar responsible fot eh lunatic, dastardly acts of sexual
harassment. It is better if all the other states in India follow the Tamil Nadu model, where an anti sexual harassment act was legislated. May be a legislation in place might deter the acts of ragging.Is it practicable to ban cell phones on campuses? Let us examine. About two months ago, CSE, a voluntary organization had come up with startling revelations that the colas sold in the market contained insecticide residues more than the permissible limits. Immediately, Keral had banned the manufacture and sales activity in the state.The Cola majors had filed petitions in the High Court stating that the ban is illegal. Two days ago, High Court of Kerala has pronounced a judgement that the ban is illegal. If the cellular operators take a similar stance against the ban, the ooutcome is predictable.Alternatively, the colleges and university can ban the high end phones like the camera phones, and ask the students to deposit them with the security personnel while entering the college. The mangement might install signal jammers to discourage the use of mobile phones on campus. Weekend seminars on communication skills, etiquette, yoga and psycology in addition to the regular classes would help reform some of these lunatics. Let some marks be given to the participating students and due weightage of performance be added in the academic subjects, in internal exams. This will ensure that the students are more focussed in their studies. Involvement of students in positive development oriented activities would bring significant changes in the attitude towards ragging.