‘Cannot charge laptops’: Rule listed by Jaykar library leaves students boggled

So, when a circular reinstating the same rule was released on Wednesday evening, some students approached the authorities to question it.

Rule 6 of the circular stated, ‘Use of laptops is allowed in the student reading room but charging is not allowed’.
Sagar, a PhD student said, “Usually one spends hours at a time in the library so having to go back to the hostel to charge the laptop everytime will be very inconvenient. The reading room is where one can read books without having to issue them and return them before leaving. If you want to make notes, search the meaning of any terms or look for related research material, how will you do it without a device? It is not like there is a lack of charging points so this rule has always seemed quite illogical.”

The director incharge of the library, Aparna Rajendra, said that this is not a new rule and has been in place at least since 2012 and has been part of several other circulars in 2018, 2019 and so on.

She added, “Students have not always followed it so that is another matter but it is very much part of the list of ‘Dont’s’ of the library. Earlier the rules were displayed on a permanent rule board but that was broken some time ago.”

She explained further, “According to our records, more than a thousand students are members of Jaykar Library and they can avail of the facilities including those in the reading hall. Now we cannot provide a thousand charging points. I was not part of the committee but this could be one possible reason for the rule. Secondly, mobile phone usage is prevented in the area so why should laptop charging be allowed?”

Some students feel that this goes against the digital-friendly measures for education being promoted by the government and taken up by the university itself. “After the pandemic and with the National Education Policy 2020, the university like many others is adopting modern technology in various aspects of education. In such a scenario, prohibiting charging of laptops does not make sense,” said Rahul Sasane of the University Student Struggle Action Committee. i