The Ministry of Education yesterday said it plans to propose a regulation banning students’ use of mobile phones on campus except for learning or emergencies.
The legislature in October last year held a public hearing, in which mandatory regulations on smartphone use at schools were suggested, as teachers had difficulties managing students.
To deal with smartphone addiction among students, the ministry has convened an interagency meeting to discuss amendments to its Guidelines on the Use of Mobile Devices on Campus at Senior-High School Level or Below (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則), expecting to complete the draft before the spring semester.
Photo: Hung Mei-hsiu, Taipei Times
The ministry’s Department of Information and Technology Education official Tsai Wan-lin (蔡宛霖) said that guidelines promulgated in 2019 stipulate that mobile devices must be turned off at school except for learning under the teacher’s guidance or emergencies, and students should be prevented from engaging in activities irrelevant to learning with such devices.
As representatives at the interagency meeting suggested stricter management of mobile devices on campus, the ministry would continue to consult expert opinions and other countries’ policies to revise the guidelines, Deputy Minister of Education Chang Liao Wan-chien (張廖萬堅) said.
A possible solution is to allow confiscation and custody of students’ smartphones by schools, he added.
Photo: Rachel Lin, Taipei Times
Representatives of different groups would be invited to discuss them once the amendments are drafted, it said.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Fan Yun (范雲) cited a survey by the Ministry of Digital Affairs as saying that the severity of smartphone addiction among junior and senior-high school students is second only to that of college students.
As smartphone addiction can negatively affect learning, many countries, including the US and the UK, have promulgated regulations on students’ smartphone use, she said.
The Los Angeles Times has reported that California passed the Phone-Free Schools Act requiring high schools within the state to develop policies limiting or banning smartphone use during school hours by next year, with classroom lockers or magnetic pouches used to lock in students’ smartphones.
Meanwhile, EdYouth cofounder Lee Ruei-lin (李瑞霖) said today’s generation of students are digital natives born to live with smartphones, and they would find it intolerable to be banned from using the devices at school.
Lee cited a senior-high school student as saying that he would bring two phones to school, allowing the school to confiscate one phone while keeping another with himself.
Confiscation of smartphones is not an effective solution to digital addiction, he said, adding that the key lies in understanding students’ learning needs, enhancing the sense of meaning and guiding them to leverage digital tools in their learning journey.
A survey conducted by a student group suggested that most parents and teachers are supportive of restricting on-campus smartphone use, while half of junior-high school students and up to 90 percent of senior-high school students said they disagreed with the policy.
National Federation of Teachers’ Unions chairman Hou Chun-liang (侯俊良) said most teachers would support the ministry’s revision to the guidelines, as it would bolster students’ learning and class management.
However, feasible supplementary measures should also be established to address some students’ or parents’ special needs, and handle contravention of the rules, he said.
Smartphone addiction should be handled by employing counseling resources rather than mandatory rules, Hou added.
A Ministry of Foreign Affairs official yesterday said that a delegation that visited China for an APEC meeting did not receive any kind of treatment that downgraded Taiwan’s sovereignty. Department of International Organizations Director-General Jonathan Sun (孫儉元) said that he and a group of ministry officials visited Shenzhen, China, to attend the APEC Informal Senior Officials’ Meeting last month. The trip went “smoothly and safely” for all Taiwanese delegates, as the Chinese side arranged the trip in accordance with long-standing practices, Sun said at the ministry’s weekly briefing. The Taiwanese group did not encounter any political suppression, he said. Sun made the remarks when
The Taiwanese passport ranked 33rd in a global listing of passports by convenience this month, rising three places from last month’s ranking, but matching its position in January last year. The Henley Passport Index, an international ranking of passports by the number of designations its holder can travel to without a visa, showed that the Taiwan passport enables holders to travel to 139 countries and territories without a visa. Singapore’s passport was ranked the most powerful with visa-free access to 192 destinations out of 227, according to the index published on Tuesday by UK-based migration investment consultancy firm Henley and Partners. Japan’s and
BROAD AGREEMENT: The two are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff to 15% and a commitment for TSMC to build five more fabs, a ‘New York Times’ report said Taiwan and the US have reached a broad consensus on a trade deal, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations said yesterday, after a report said that Washington is set to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent. The New York Times on Monday reported that the two nations are nearing a trade deal to reduce Taiwan’s tariff rate to 15 percent and commit Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) to building at least five more facilities in the US. “The agreement, which has been under negotiation for months, is being legally scrubbed and could be announced this month,” the paper said,
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
RSS