Blue Whale Game: Bengal Minister Asks Schools to Stop Students Getting Phones to Class

Kolkata: West Bengal Education Minister Partha Chatterjee on Saturday instructed all schools in the state to ensure that students do not carry mobile phones in classes.

The instruction comes after several cases of schoolchildren in the state falling victim to the Blue Whale Challenge, an addictive online game which drives those who play it to suicide.

He asked school authorities to strictly follow the instruction and stressed that parents should also be informed to keep a close watch on their children to prevent any mishap.

“There are allegations of a number of students getting victimised by the Blue Whale game across the state. It is a matter of concern for us. Schools and the authorities should be on alert,” he said in an event to organise Public Library Day by the Department of Mass Education & Library Sciences.

“The Blue Whale game should be stopped immediately. We have asked the schools to ban mobile phones for students inside schools premises,” he added.

Chatterjee said that 25 government schools in Kolkata have been identified where UNICEF will conduct workshops regarding use of “safe Internet” by school children. “The workshop will be conducted in a few private schools as well,” he said.

The government schools selected for workshop include Hindu School, Jodhpur Park School and Binodini Girls. Students of nearby schools will also be asked to attend.

Some ICSE schools will also hold a sensitisation workshop on online gaming and Internet addiction, covering around 200 schools in the state.

Meanwhile, Kolkata police will also launch an awareness campaign through social media for parents to keep a watch on their children.

Kolkata Police Commissioner Rajeev Kumar is personally looking in to the awareness campaign and asked all the departmental heads in the city police to work hard on this project to spread the message among parents to prevent their kinds from falling in to such online trap.

Apart from uploading dos and don’ts content for parents as well students, the city police is also planning to rope in schools to make this project a success.

“This is a preventive measures to help those who are addicted to online fatal games,” Kumar told News18.

The online game has already claimed more than 100 lives across the world with several cases reported in India including five in West Bengal.