Chennai, August 19: Cellphones will be banned in colleges across Tamil Nadu following an order by the Directorate of Collegiate Education (DCE) asking all colleges under its purview to implement the order as early as possible. The circular, issued earlier this month, has ordered all arts, science and other colleges to ban the use of cell phones by students in the college premises.

According to a report by The Hindu, the circular has been issued by Director of Collegiate Education R. Sarumathi to all Regional Joint Directors of Collegiate Education (RJD). In the circular, it is stated that the ban applies to government, government-aided and self-financing institutions.

A similar ban was introduced in Anna University in the year 2005. However, it was relaxed by restricting the usage to classrooms following opposition from students. According to The Hindu report, the decision was made as per the advice of Higher Education Secretary (in charge).

An official was quoted in the report saying that the decision has been taken in co-education colleges as many complaints of boys taking videos and pictures of girl students were received.  “Mobile phones are also occasionally used for malpractices during examinations,” the official said.

When the official was asked that reputed colleges like Indian Institutes of Technology do not impose such restrictions, he said the students in such institutions knew how to use mobile phones reasonably unlike the ones in other colleges. The official further added that as restricting usage of mobile phones in classrooms will be difficult to enforce, it is better that students do not carry mobile phones to colleges.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Aug 19, 2018 01:32 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).