As many as sixteen kids from the UKG section of the Iruvallur Government Upper Primary School (GUPS) in Kozhikode kept mobile phones at an arm's distance from November last year. They didn't even bother to touch it despite their parents' attempts to hand it to them. The reason was they had taken a pledge not to use phones for three months.

The oath-taking event with the slogan 'Say No to Mobile' was officiated by B Rekha, their class teacher, and what made the tiny tots strictly adhere to the pledge was the impact of a story and a lecture by the teacher and the promise of gifts to the winners.

"I told them a story narrating the ill-effects of the mobile and the damage it can cause to their eyes and brain," Rekha told Onmanorama. "Maybe the kids have been impacted by the vivid description of the possible dangers of the overuse of mobile phones," she said.

There is also a reason behind what motivated Rekha to follow such a measure in her class. "As part of the curricular activities, we visit students' homes. During one of my such visits to a student's house, I found that the kid was so engrossed in the phone that she didn't look at me even once," said Rekha.

"That pained me so much and on my way back home, I pondered on the perils of mobile addiction among children and thought of finding a solution."

"Rekha's story for the kids and the pledge they took to avoid phones for three months were so effective that 16 of the 25 students in the class are not interested anymore in smartphones even today," M K Rani Sharmila, Headmistress of the school, stated. "We had heard of such measures in other schools, so we thought of implementing that in our school as well," she added.

Everyday, the teacher enquired with the parents through the class WhatsApp group on the kids' performance in the challenge and the parents responded accordingly. Finally, the students who completed the three-month challenge were given prizes at an event organised in the classroom.

Shabna V P, a parent of one of the UKG students who was part of the challenge, told Onmanorama that the gift promised by the teacher was the motivation behind her kid's aversion to mobile phones. "My elder son who is in class 3, is still addicted to phones. I think the challenge should be implemented in higher classes too so that more children can be rescued from the mobile addiction menace," she said.

"The winning children were gifted with Ludo and Chess boards so that they can spend this vacation productively by avoiding mobile phones," said Rekha.