New Delhi: The Karnataka government has come out with a draft policy to tackle students’ digital usage through a school-based framework that puts mental well-being and cyber safety on the top.
Who framed the policy
The state department of health and family welfare joined hands with the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) to formulate the policy, The Hindustan Times reported.
The policy points out: “With nearly one in four adolescents showing signs of problematic internet use, the policy recognises the rising burden of mental health issues such as anxiety, sleep disturbances, poor academic performance, and social isolation linked to excessive screen time.”
State health minister Dinesh Gundu Rao stated that the adverse effects of mobile phone usage were evident across both academic sphere and social life, highlighting concerns like anxiety, cyber-bullying, sleep deprivation, and less interpersonal interaction.
Rao reportedly said: “You also must be noticing family members converse less with each other due to mobile phones. They are disturbing our social structure. We have learnt its usage and not the negative effect it has on people, including digital addiction and its effect on our mind.”
What does the draft policy propose
The draft policy calls for embedding digital literacy, mental health awareness, and cyber safety into school curriculum. It also spells out the roles and responsibilities of schools, teachers, parents, students, and government institutions.
The steps include state-level guidelines, teachers’ training on responsible technology use, and better coordination between schools and parents.
Digital wellness will be integrated into life skills and ICT curricula. It will cover social media literacy, responsible technology use, and cyber safety.
Schools would have to chalk out their own digital use policies, including setting screen-time curbs — with recreational use limited at one hour per day — addressing cyber misconduct, and ensuring access to counselling help.
Training will be imparted to teachers to figure out initial signs of digital distress and refer students to mental health services. Schools would also set up Digital Wellness Committees.
The policy also proposes regular sensitisation programmes for students, teachers and parents, and encourages offline activities such as physical exercise, hobbies and designated “tech-free” periods. Monitoring systems are envisaged to identify signs of digital distress and link students to support services, including Tele-MANAS.
‘Digital detox’
The draft policy also proposes training teachers under a “digital detox” approach through the 5C model — Craving, Control, Compulsion, Coping and Consequences. This will help them to effectively step in in cases of digital distress. As per the policy, parents would be expected to enforce screen-time curbs, set up device-free zones at home, and model responsible digital behaviour, with schools helping engagement through guidance sessions.
The draft comes after a proposal was declared in the state budget to limit access to social media for younger users. Presenting the 2026–27 budget in the Karnataka legislature, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had said that the government was planning to ban children under 16 from using social media platforms.