Crackdown On Mobile Phone Use In Schools

Sun Herald

Sunday March 11, 2007

By Hannah Edwards Education Reporter

STUDENTS are banned from bringing mobile phones to some primary and high schools as part of moves to stop bullying and playground theft.

Chairwoman of the Public School Principals Forum Cheryl McBride said mobile phones were banned at her school, Sarah Redfern Public School at Minto.

She said an increasing number of public primary schools were also introducing the no-phone policy.

"You don't want the learning programs being interrupted in classrooms.

"Some of the phones are extremely expensive and they become very attractive to other kids and you spend quite a bit of your teaching and learning time finding out who has taken whose phone.

"Most schools are suggesting that they are not brought to school at all. A lot of schools have just totally banned the kids having mobile phones."

Teachers are also concerned that pupils will film bullying and fights using the video cameras built into mobile phones and lodge them on popular multimedia websites such as YouTube and MySpace.

Earlier this month, at Cumberland High School in Carlingford, footage of a violent playground brawl that led to the school being locked down, was lodged on YouTube.

"If kids have got those cameras then there is an opportunity to sensationalise and promote fights," Ms McBride said.

Only children who travel long distances to school are allowed to keep a phone, but it must stay in their school bag and is confiscated if it is used, she said.

The Education Department has already blocked access to websites such as YouTube and MySpace.

The president of the Secondary Principals' Council Jim McAlpine said mobile phone bans in high schools were not required.

"[Mobile phones] are part and parcel of a kid's equipment," he said. "The responsible use of mobile phones is part of the policies in most schools."

Headmaster at Hunters Hill school St Joseph's College, Ross Tarlinton, said an outright ban on phones would not suit the 700 students who board at the school. Instead they are taught to use the phones responsibly.

© 2007 Sun Herald

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