Worried over the declining academic standards at government schools in Punjab, the state government has banned the use of mobile phones by students as well teachers within the government run schools in Punjab. In its latest diktat, the state government has decided that school teachers now have to deposit their mobile phones with the principal or the headmasters of the state government schools before entering the classrooms for teaching.
The government order is a result of a finding by the Director General of School Education (DGCE), which was given the task of find the reasons behind ”the lack of discipline” and continuous declining academic standards in the government. The report has zeroed on mobile phone nuisance as a major cause of ills in government schools.
To implement the latest directive in state-run schools, Punjab education minister Sikander Singh Malukahas passed orders asking all district education officers to ensure immediate implementation of the orders. The government has also asked to deal strictly with the violators.
The decision has been taken keeping in view the increased mobile nuisance in the schools. The new policy is aimed at freeing the government schools from the mobile nuisance. Although mobile phones were not allowed inside the schools, the teachers as well students bring the mobiles into the classrooms. The government schools of Punjab are not really known for their academic standards as people prefer sending their children to private schools due to constant declining standards of government schools.