Afghan university smartphone ban divides students

Afghan university students are split over a smartphone ban on campuses, with some saying it has damaged their studies while others say it has improved concentration.

The restriction followed a June order by Supreme Leader Hibatullah Akhundzada for government workers to stop using smartphones. A 29-year-old student in Kabul said university staff told classes that students were no longer allowed to bring smartphones to campus. In Herat, notices at a university and dormitory warned that anyone caught with a smartphone would face “legal action”.

Students in Kabul, Herat and Mazar-i-Sharif told AFP the ban has made it harder to use online research, course materials, photos of lecture slides, artificial intelligence tools and e-books. One Herat student said he had used his phone to help with about half of his syllabus. A journalism student in Mazar-i-Sharif said students could not study properly without smartphones.

Kandahar University spokesman Nazir Ahmad Qadari said the measure was intended to make students “pay attention to their lectures, studies and practical work”.

Fiona Frazer, human rights director for the United Nations mission in Afghanistan, said there “may be sound reasons to manage students' use of technology”, but said UNAMA had concerns about restrictions that limit access to information, freedom of expression and participation in daily life.

Some students also cited financial and practical costs. A Kabul student said he had to pay a 10 Afghani, or $0.15, fee to store his smartphone at the university entrance, while another said he bought a basic phone for calls because laptops were too expensive for many students.

Other students supported the change. Kandahar medical student Sanaullah Yousufzai said the rule had improved relations between teachers and students and reduced interruptions from calls, though he worried about reaching family in an emergency. Mohammad Hakim Haqmal, a 22-year-old journalism student, said his score rose from 75 to 80 percent after the ban because classmates studied more and spent less time on social media.

UNESCO said in a March report that 58 percent of countries ban mobile phones in schools, citing classroom distraction and wellbeing risks, but the report did not mention university bans. Taliban authorities have ruled Afghanistan for nearly five years and have also taken steps affecting access to technology, including restrictions on broadband in several provinces last year and a two-day nationwide internet and phone network shutdown.