NCPCR (National Commission for Protection of Child Rights) has called for a ban on PUBG all over India and sent letters to all state governments recommending the same. Gujarat government is the first to react to it. It will be interesting to see how far it goes.
Gujarat’s primary education department issued a circular on Tuesday asking district authorities to ensure a ban on PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds aka PUBG. As per orders, district primary education officers would have to take all the necessary steps to enforce the ban on PUBG in primary schools across the state.
The circular says that the ban is necessary because students are getting addicted to the game which is “adversely affecting their studies.” The primary education department issued the ban after a recommendation was made by the State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
Jagruti Pandya, chairperson of the Gujarat child rights body, said that the ban was recommended by NCPCR. “The NCPCR had sent a letter to all the states and recommended a ban on the game. All the states are required to implement it. Looking at the negative effects of the game, we had recently sent a letter to the state government recommending a ban on the game.”
The PUBG ban movement started after the Student Association in Jammu and Kashmir blamed PUBG for poor examination results and asked for a ban on PUBG mobile in the state. The association claims that the game is extremely addictive and is affecting studies.
PUBG mobile was released last year and attracted 200 million users across the world till December 2018. Since then, it has become a craze in today’s generation and is played widely on a daily basis. It has become so popular that almost everyone knows about it even if they don’t play it.
Taking it to a personal note, I don’t think banning the game is the solution here because students are smart, it’s the new generation growing in the world of advancing technologies. There are other options that could be considered on both personal and the government level. The issue can be addressed if parents and the school come together to find a solution and take necessary action. Parents, if they already don’t, should look after their child activities on a daily basis and limit the screen time.
It is not yet known how the ban will be implemented as there is also a mature generation that enjoys the game and also which version of the game i.e. mobile or PC/console the government is banning.