In an attempt to prevent classroom distractions caused by smartphones, Dr Rafiq Zakaria Women’s College in the Indian state of Maharashtra has banned the possession of mobile phones within the college's premises.
Introduced almost two weeks ago, the ban was first imposed as a disciplinary action against the overuse of devices. However, the plan has been expanded to eradicate digital disturbances in the classrooms, while improving the concentration of the college's over 3,000 students.
Dr Maqdoom Farooqui, the principal of the women’s college, highlighted that the lack of smartphones in the surroundings, has also let loose plenty of human-to-human contact on the college campus, the media reported on Saturday.
Under the ban, the students are required to deposit their devices as soon as they enter the premises and collect them when they’re leaving the campus.
The principal and faculty members of the college are hoping to derive productive results out of this restrictive ban on smartphone usage.
Teachers also observed students flocking to the libraries to get magazines and books to read for leisure now that they do not have screens to swipe up and down from. The number of smartphone users in India is estimated to reach 299.24 million, with the number of smartphone users worldwide forecast to exceed 2.3 billion by 2022.
