Stop fuss over phone seizures: Schools

Chandigarh: Parents need to stop assuming that their child cannot be playing the Blue Whale Challenge, a dreaded online game that is suspected to have claimed its first victim in Tricity in the suicide of 16-year-old Karan Thakur, said the principal of the teenager’s school on Tuesday.
The principal of DAV Senior Secondary School in Sector 8, Vibha Ray, said they came across many instances where parents objected to them confiscating students’ mobile phones and were not ready to believe that their child could be playing the game too.“But we have maintained our stand: phones will not be allowed unless there is a direction from the education department,” she said.
Even other schools’ heads stressed on keeping students away from mobile phones having internet access. “Parents trust their children way too much; they need to be alert too. Even Karan’s parents were confident and never imagined that he could be playing the game, even though he hinted at it when he said his friends were playing it and asked his cousins not to play, and asked his parents to take him to a psychiatrist as he was addicted to a game,” said Ray.
She parents needed to be smart and work hand-in-hand with schools for their child’s safety. “They should tell us their observations and listen to ours. We so wish we had parents who told us about the boy’s changing behavious at home. We could have done something,” she said. Other schools too feel the same. “Schools cannot hope to be successful without help from parents. Personal involvement will always be superior to hired labour. If there is a spirit of mutuality and cooperation, there will be no need for any formal division of responsibility,” said A B S Sidhu, director-principal lof Saupin’s School. A day after the school confiscated phones of students, it checked schoolbags, flipped every child’s notebooks to find suspicious drawings, and counselled children for three hours. “Teachers spoke to students about games and other things indicating ill-effects of certain games. We ensured not to name the Blue Whale Challenge, so that no curiosity is generated among students.”
At Ajit Karam Singh International Public School, Sector 41, principal Ritu Bali said, children were made to understand the importance of life. “We are keeping a watch on our children through our counseller. We’re telling parents to keep a check on their activities.”