Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Help children use study time productively, parents told

Staff Reporter

Anna University VC warns students against distractions Anna University VC warns students against distractions

Coimbatore: Parents of college students should not buy them mobile phones or allow them to get involved in activities that will divert them from their studies, D. Viswanathan, Vice-Chancellor, Anna University, said here on Sunday.

Performance down

"Students who get 90 per cent marks in school, get admission in reputed institutions, but in college, their performance in the examinations goes down. We conducted a survey and found that boys talk on their cell phones a minimum of 90 hours a month and girls 120 hours. Seventy-five per cent of the boys and 90 per cent of the girls have cell phones," he observed.

At the 4th Graduation Day at the Sri Krishna College of Engineering and Technology, Prof. Viswanathan said that he would blame parents for being over indulgent towards their children.

"If study time is wasted like this, how can students become employable in multinational companies? It is only Indian students who misuse cell phones, not students in other countries," he noted and added that when he had been abroad recently, he had noticed that out of 400 students in a dining hall, 300 had their laptop computers with them.

Mobile phones not misused

In countries such as France, both teachers and students had mobile phones in their bags, but did not misuse them on the campus. In the United States, distractions caused by modern lifestyles had resulted in half the students not being able to go for higher studies. Indian students should be prevented from going the same way.

Educational institutions in India had failed to prepare students for opportunities within the country. Several job openings existed but there were graduates who were unsuitable for employment. India needed ten lakh scientists by 2015 if the country was to become a developed nation by 2020.

Tamil Nadu was fortunate to possess 240 engineering colleges and should aim to lead not only in numbers but also in quality. "Throw away all those cell phones and entertainment. That is secondary. Students think that colleges are places for total freedom and enjoyment," he said. There should be no time for unproductive television programmes and film shows.

Protect culture

"Indian culture should be protected. Don't allow foreign culture to destroy us," he observed and noted that India should not go the way of Thailand that had already lost its identity and now looked like an American city. Indians should not lose their uniqueness and graduates should help make India a stronger nation.

"I urge you to appreciate the fact that education is but a medium for the flowering of the human personality. It is a reservoir from which spring the streams of innovation and imagination, of bold new departures and of dynamism through thought and action," he observed.

N. Suryakumar, Chairman, Governing Council of the College, presided over the convocation.

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