West Bengal may replace student mobile phone grants with education tablets

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari indicated that the state may replace financial assistance for students to buy mobile phones with grants for education-related tablets. | Photo Credit: ANI

West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari on Tuesday indicated that the state government may discontinue its financial assistance to school students for purchasing mobile phones and replace it with grants for buying education-related tablets.

Adhikari expressed concern at reports of unbridled use of mobile phones by school students and said the trend is causing “irreparable damage” to the younger generation.

He was speaking at a programme at Byantra in Howrah to launch the ‘Sarathi’ scheme for distributing bicycles to students, replacing the erstwhile ‘Sabuj Sathi’ project initiated by the TMC government.

“I am severely opposed to students using mobile phones in schools. This is causing irreparable damage. We are giving this matter serious thought,” he said, with School Education Minister Dipak Burman and Higher Education Minister Jagannath Chattopadhyay in attendance on the dais.

“The previous government used to give Rs 10,000 to class 11 students in January to purchase mobile phones. I have already asked the state education secretary and am saying this to the minister as well: start thinking about the matter from now. We can provide more funds, if required, with which we will provide education-related tablets instead of mobile phones,” Adhikari added.

This wasn’t the first time that Adhikari expressed his displeasure over the use of mobile phones by school students.

At an event on September 5 to mark Teachers’ Day, the chief minister had said, “Mobile phones have a significant negative impact on school students. It may be a difficult decision, and I may even lose votes because of it.”

In Gujarat, mobile phones are banned for students up to Class 12, and they remain awake watching mobile phones even after their parents go to sleep, he had said.

On Tuesday, Adhikari said that failure to bring about this reform will lead to not being able to build future generations in the right manner.

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