LookAtVietnam – Some educators believe that it is impossible to ban mobile phones from schools, while others say mobile phones distract students from their lessons.

Not surprisingly, students are strongly opposed. They haven’t hesitated to criticize the bans on online education forums.

Some parents point out that if schools prohibit kids from packing phones, they won’t be able to call home in case there’s an accident.

There’s been no official survey on impact of mobile phones on the study results of students, reports Saigon Tiep thi, and no central guidance. Perhaps, suggests the newspaper, it’s time for schools to agree on a common solution.

Resisting the tidal wave . . .

Early this school year, during an impromptu walkabout at Thu Duc Senior High School (HCM City), Principal Nguyen Huu Dieu discovered seven students using mobile phones during class hours. They were listening to music and sending SMS messages.

The principal asked the students to write a confession of their mistakes and planned to meet their parents to talk about their children’s behaviour. While the students were writing reports, their mobile phones continued vibrating as more messages arrived.

Principal Dieu is persuaded that the use of mobile phones at wrong places and wrong moments interferes with teaching and learning, and therefore mobile phones have been banned at Thu Duc High.

Many other schools have also banned mobile phones from the classroom. At least three HCMC senior highs, Nguyen Thi Minh Khai in District 3, Le Minh Xuan in Binh Chanh District and Sao Viet in District 7 have been ‘no phone zones’ for the last several years. Their students here have been told that their mobile phones will be seized and returned only to their parents. Repeat offenders get a bad conduct demerit.

These schools are holding out against a tidal wave. The mobile phone has become so popular that even 5^th graders pack their own. Not just the kids, but their parents have come to consider the mobile phone an ‘indispensable part of life’.

Meanwhile, teachers complain that ringing phones interrupt their lessons. “I know they don’t like our rule, but if students are busy with ‘playing with mobile phones’ during study hours, they will not have time to get knowledge,” stressed teacher Le Viet Cang from Le Minh Xuan High School.

. . . or accomodating to it?

In contrast, many other schools allow students to carry and use mobile phones at school, provided that they turn them off while they are in class. While many schools insist on the need of prohibit mobile phones at schools, others believe that no need to do that in the digital era.

Lam Van Trieu, a deputy principal at Le Hong Phong High School, said that 80 percent of the students at this ‘gifted and talented’ school in HCM City have mobile phones. “The phones are a device that allows individuals to stay in touch with family and friends. While we are teaching the kids to use new technologies, there’s no reason to forbid them to carry phones.”

However, Trieu insisted, any students caught using their phone during class hours will be required to write a ‘self-criticism’ and their parents will be informed. Repeat violators can lose a full mark in their ‘behavior’ grade – as a few kids found out during the last school year.

Nguyen Thi Phi, Principal of Duc Tri Junior High, says it is left entirely up to the schools to decide whether or not to ban phones – there’s been no guidance from the Ministry of Education. “There are pros and cons. What’s important is to observe how the kids are using the phones, and then discuss appropriate procedures with parents in a timely way.” It’s OK for students to use the phones to communicate with friends and family, Phi thinks, but essential to discourage “chat,” watching video clips or accessing the Internet, and there must be no tolerance for youngsters who load debauched photos and film on their phones to show each other.

VietNamNet/SGTT