Karnataka Rajya Sabha member Lahar Singh Siroya
Credit: DH Photo
Karnataka Rajya Sabha member Lahar Singh Siroya on Wednesday urged the government to restrict smart phones in school campus to prevent growing digital epidemic of smartphone addiction among school children.
"Growing digital epidemic of smartphone addiction, especially among our schoolchildren - a threat experts warn is undermining focused learning, healthy social interaction, and mental well-being. This unchecked habit is now becoming as harmful and devastating as the drug menace itself, impairing concentration, social development and mental health," Siroya said in his special mention in Rajya Sabha.
To address parental safety concerns, the government should promote replacing smartphones with basic, voice-call-only feature phones ('flip phones') on campus, he suggested.
He also urged the Ministry of Education and Electronics and Information Technology to declare school campus from Kindergarten to class 10 (K-10) as 'Smartphone-Free Zone. '
"Many countries across the world have imposed school-time bans, many through legislation, to restore academic focus and face-to-face interaction. A few other nations have prohibited users under 16 from having social media accounts to protect them from addictive algorithms, harmful content, and cyberbullying. We too need to restrict the use of smartphones and social media platforms," he said.
"Our current fragmented framework must be replaced with a firm, uniform Central legislation to ensure effective protection for every child. To safeguard the goals of the National Education Policy (NEP 2020), the Ministries of Education and IT should issue directive declaring all Kindergarten to 10 (K-10) schools a 'Smartphone-Free Zone," he said.