Parents have welcomed Anna University's ban on use of mobile phones by teachers and students and enforcement of dress code in engineering college campuses.

But students are opposed to the move.

There is consensus though over the ban on holding of film-based cultural programmes in college premises, with both parents and students saying most of the film songs are 'vulgar'.

Parents welcomed the dress code and said it will prevent girls and boys from dressing 'shabbily' in the name of fashion.

The university, which first banned the use of two-wheelers and four-wheelers inside the university premises arguing that the emission caused by these vehicles had polluted the university atmosphere, has banned use of mobile phones from September 1.

Vice Chancellor D Viswanathan said the use of mobile phones had caused distractions to students in classrooms. When somebody's mobile phone rings, it attracts the attention of all the students in a classroom, he said.

The college authorities also noticed students sending SMS among themselves in the classroom, he said.

The university, which controls all engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu and banned the use of camera phones earlier when the infamous MMS sleaze incident at a Delhi school had rocked the nation, said the ban was necessary for students who were studying highly technical courses.