Cell phones in schools … Authorities say it’s a non-issue but is it

Feb 17, 2011 News

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More and more students in schools across Guyana are owners of cellular phones. Perhaps now more than ever in our history it is common to hear cell phones ringing in classrooms and along school corridors.
Students are texting each other, bluetoothing music and videos and some are even filming sexual activities with others on cell phones.
The cell phone culture has invaded the education system, more particularly in secondary schools. It is an issue that needs to be dealt with whether one likes it or not. It is hampering the quality delivery of education and learning in schools, especially schools that continue to allow students to bring cell phones.
Regional Education Officer of Region Six, Mrs Shafiran Bhajan and School Welfare Officer (SWO), Mr Jainaraine Singh, contend that the cell phones in school is a non- issue.
According to Singh, the matter had been an issue prior to the dispatching of the Ministry of Education’s (MOE) circular on cell phone usage. We will discuss that circular later. Mrs Bhajan said that if students take cell phones to school, same must be lodged with the school’s administration, preferably the clerk or secretary for keeping.
She said that students are not permitted to use these phones during teaching time but can uplift their phones to make calls during the recess and lunch breaks.
She further stated that the MOE requires head teachers to submit quarterly reports on the use of cell phones. She said most schools have complied with this order and have been submitting monthly reports to the Ministry.
When asked whether phones may be smuggled into schools, Bhajan stated that she would not recommend searching children. The Schools Welfare Officer said that the school can notify students during assemblies that all phones must be lodged at the head teacher’s office and that teachers can make random checks from time to time.
What the officials are concerned about is the growing use of cell phones by teachers in school. They stated that this matter has been brought up at head teacher meetings which are held monthly.
The approach to students with cell phones in school varies from school to school across Berbice, as it does in other areas in the country. Many schools are not complying with the circular issued by the then Chief Education Officer, Ms Genevieve Whyte-Nedd.
The circular, No. 7/2007, states that the MOE had taken a decision to prohibit the use of cell phones in school during class sessions and student assemblies. Further, the circular stated, “any student found using a cell phone or any similar gadget or device, during class sessions or student assembly shall be suspended for a minimum of three days in the first instance.
“Any student who leaves the class session and is found using a cell phone shall also be suspended for a minimum of three days.”
Schools were also mandated by the circular to display ‘No Cell Phone Usage’ signs at prominent locations around the school plant.
Bhajan said that the booklet that directs punishment for misconduct in schools in Guyana, ‘The Manual for Maintenance of Order and Discipline in Schools’, does not cater for punishment for being found in possession of or using a cell phone in school.
Many have called for a review of that same manual which they believe has become obsolete and unrealistic.
If a student should lose his or her cell phone in school, the MOE’s policy is clear: the school shall not be held responsible for replacing the instrument. There is at least one case where even this clause in the notice from the MOE has been compromised when a junior secondary school a few years ago chose to use the school funds to replace a cellular phone that became missing after a student had lodged it in the headteacher’s office.
President of the Guyana Teachers’ Union (GTU), Mr Colin Bynoe, is against the use of cell phones in schools even out of learning/teaching periods.
“It’s not good; it’s a no-no”, he said.
Bynoe stated that the education system is now facing the tip of the iceberg with this problem. In pointing out the dangers of this device falling into the hands of students, he posited that some hire car operators are giving the instruments to school girls who make contact with these individuals during the breaks.
Responding to the comments that the phones should be lodged at the head teacher’s office, Bynoe said that no school would want to take on such a responsibility.
He said that some parents are condoning wrong behaviour in sending their children to school with cell phones that in turn get into nefarious and clandestine activities with adults in the public arena. When these matters get out of hand, the union leader said that it is then when the parents cry foul.
Bynoe added that it is a common practice for students to make pornographic videos and solicit payments from students to watch these videos. He said parents are not checking their children’s bags before and after school.
Head teachers from secondary schools in Berbice, he noted, are coming together to form a team to meet with police here to share ideas and some of the things happening in schools with students.
The police, in turn, are expected to come up with a few ways on how to tackle these issues and catch the perpetrators as well.
While it seems that the authorities are not ready to acknowledge the gravity of this issue, the fact remains that many students are in possession of cell phones which they proudly take to school.
With today’s phones being equipped with so many functions and features, the instrument then becomes a hindrance to learning. Many students have now been enticed to perform lewd acts while their friends become directors and producers. Cell phones and students: certainly a dangerous combination. (Leon Suseran)

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