Police call on schools to ban mobile phones

Police are appealing to principals to ban students from carrying mobile phones to school, following a series of complaints of misuse of phones on school premises. Out of a long list of complaints lodged, eight are under investigation, Chief Inspector Buddhika Balachandra, officer in charge of the Bureau for the Prevention of Abuse of Children and Women, told The Sunday Times.

In one of the cases, students at a leading school are alleged to have used a mobile phone camera to photograph a female teacher and posted her picture, along with the teacher’s contact details, on a pornographic website.

Chief Inspector Balachandra said the police had confirmed that the picture had been taken by students on the school premises. The teacher concerned had received calls from unknown persons, and at least eight of the calls were traced to corporations and a government institution. The management of these institutions had been summoned by the police and told about the calls.
Meanwhile, the teacher has been compelled to change her telephone numbers and her address to avoid being harassed by callers.

In another case, a young sportsman at a leading boys’ school was photographed with a mobile phone while he was being ragged and his picture distributed among other students via mobile phones. The police launched investigations following a tip-off from an anonymous caller.

A third case involved a senior female student who was found to have been harassing other students with calls on her mobile phone to seek sexual favours. The Bureau for the Prevention of Abuse of Children and Women is actively educating young people on the proper use of mobile phones.

“We have been conducting seminars in schools to educate students, staff and parents on the prevention of the misuse of mobile phones,” Chief Inspector Balachandra said. “We have conducted programmes in 22 schools in Colombo so far.”

Over the past three months, the bureau has received more than 60 complaints. In several cases, the police have been reluctant to proceed with investigations out of concern for the complainants, who might be embarrassed by detailed enquiries.