Tajikistan Bans Mobile Phones in Schools

The parliament in Tajikistan has adopted amendments to laws on education which will now ban the use of mobile phones in all educational facilities in the country, which covers both schools and universities. The ban applies to both students and teachers.

"These measures were taken following multiple requests from the country's president, and are intended to raise quality of teaching in educational institutions," a Tajik lawmaker said.

The Tajik education ministry issued a similar regulation in early 2007, but it had no effect. The decree also banned students from using their own cars to travel to their studies.

The country ended last September with around 2.9 million subscribers, reports figures from the Mobile World subscriber tracker. This represents a population penetration level of 38%.

Posted to the site on 10th March 2009