Mumbai school asks students to deactivate FB accounts

Fed up with the increasing hours students spend social networking, especially the pre-teens, Smt Sulochanadevi Singhania School of Thane has initiated a ‘networking de-addiction drive’.

The ICSE school has ordered its students to deactivate their Facebook accounts within a week. Technical experts of the school will keep a tab on all such accounts.

With board exams round the corner, the drive was announced last Saturday during an annual event, where the parents of all students were present, requesting them to ask their wards to deactivate FB accounts. Parents have welcomed the initiative, and students, too, are cooperating.

A parent of a Std VII student said, “I was asking all my friends if they knew how to deactivate a Facebook account. But my son figured it out and has already done it.” A Std IX student said, “My class has assured the principal that no one from us is an FB user anymore.”

Principal Revathi Srinivasan said, “Social networking is taking a toll on students’ studies. Even 12-year-olds have Facebook accounts. We want all such accounts deactivated, so that they devote more time to studies.”

To give the drive a boost, the school has announced goodies. “The class which shows 100% deactivation will be treated with a picnic. And if someone has an account under a fake name, he/she will be tracked by our experts,” school authorities said.

The school is yet to gather data of deactivated accounts.