Friday, April 17, 2009 by Noor Aftab Islamabad Female students of various educational institutions of the city have urged the government to come up with an effective mechanism in the upcoming educational policy to curb the immoral use of mobile phones on campuses. Talking to ‘The News’ here on Thursday, they expressed grave concern that the very thought of a pervert watching their every move, recording it on a cell phone and putting the video on the internet for the whole world to ‘enjoy’ was enough to send chills down their spines.
“It is impossible to remain vigilant all the time while walking or talking on the campus. The situation gets more difficult in case of any funfair, as so many students attend these kinds of events and no one can constantly watch what other students are doing with their cell phones,” said Shumaila Yousaf, a student of FAST University.
Hundreds of clips or footages taken during funfairs, ‘basant’ festivals or other recreational events have, so far, been uploaded, especially on YouTube, in which female students are presented in a highly objectionable manner.
Sources in the Ministry of Education told this correspondent upon inquiring that given the complex nature of the issue, no proper or effective mechanism would be announced in the next educational policy. Moreover, the higher education institutions have responded negatively on the suggestion to use jammers, arguing that it would create a lot of problems for students, specially female students, who otherwise feel secure while being away from their homes. However, these institutions fully agree to ban the use of mobile phones in classrooms.
Every object has its uses and misuses. It is like liberty, which is properly enjoyed by the wise men but fools misuse it. “Modern technology always has its positive and negative aspects and it all depends upon its usage that makes it a facility or a headache for so many people,” said Gulfraz Abbasi, an educationist. He said that sick-minded people could misuse modern technology, so the government must introduce some mechanism to curb such a social menace in educational institutions.
Cell phone abuse is a worldwide epidemic, which is now affecting millions of people with no relief in sight. It is generally observed that the victims are mostly caught on mobile phone cameras while performing during family functions or events at their institutions.
According to so many reports prepared or compiled by various non-governmental organisations, the misuse of mobile phone cameras has increased to such an extent where female students no more feel secure on their campuses. Mobile video clippings purportedly of the girls being subjected to sexual perversions by some youths also surfaced in the recent past. It is genuinely apprehended that exploitation of female students through secretly recorded footage could land them in great trouble as has been frequently reported in neighbouring India.
Keeping in view the rampant use of mobile phones, the Higher Education Commission and ministries of education, women’s development and interior should formulate a viable joint strategy to control their misuse in educational institutions without affecting its genuine use by students.
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