UT to flunk junk food, mobiles

CHANDIGARH: UT education department has decided to issue a new set of directives to take city schools out of coverage area of mobile phones and junk food. The step comes after The Times of India published a report on Thursday, which highlighted how the canteens at schools were offering junk food and students using cellphones despite education department���s previously ordered ban on those.However, DPI(S) Samwartak Singh and UT home secretary Ram Niwas don���t seem to be agreeing on how far the ban on cellphones in schools should go.
Singh said the schools would be instructed on Monday to follow Union government guidelines, which state that students should not use cellphones on the premises of educational institutions.
Niwas said, ���It would be better if students pay attention to studies and don���t bring mobile phones to school at all.��� A recently issued Central Board of Secondary Education advisory to schools had sought that students should not bring cellphones with them. Some principals in city schools have been trying to stop students from bringing the instruments, in spite of there being no such ban in place. Niwas said he could not see why the education department was not enforcing the blanket ban on the entry of mobiles on school premises.
However, the senior officials do agree on the ill-effects of cellphones. Singh said the gadgets didn?t just distract students, but also led to their taking part in deviant activities. ���In the fresh letter (regarding guidelines) we will instruct principals to be even more vigilant so that norms are not flouted,��� he stated.
Niwas and Singh were in accord with each other when it came to junk food, saying healthy snacks should be given a place in school canteens.
The principals will be responsible for ensuring that junk food makes its way out of schools so that a healthy lifestyle is ensured for students, said the DPI (S).