Schools are to ban students from bringing phones or other mobile devices to classrooms, starting in September, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said yesterday.
He made the comment at a news conference at the ministry, saying that officials are soon to unveil guidelines authorizing teachers to take students’ phones for safekeeping.
The ministry in March began working with officials, educators and civil society groups to deal with the endemic gadget use on campuses, resulting in the guidelines’ creation, he said.
Photo: Yang Mien-chieh, Taipei Times
The school rules, which apply to elementary schools, junior high schools and high schools, would enable educators to collect students’ mobile devices in a centralized location on campus, he said.
Exceptions and alternative methods would be available to schools where the policy could not be implemented, he said.
The scientific literature has shown that allowing students to use Internet-connected devices in classrooms is harmful to their ability to learn, Cheng said.
The soon-to-be-revealed government guidelines for phones on campus are part of the ministry’s larger policy package dealing with the implications of digital technology on learning, he said.
Instruction materials for families to regulate their children’s Internet usage, information campaigns targeting parents, on-campus initiatives and other drives to raise public awareness are to be rolled out, he said.
Efforts by local educators to ban phones in classrooms have already faced a backlash from students at some schools.
New Taipei City Municipal Banqiao Senior High School principal Liu Shu-fen (劉淑芬), who had implemented a cellphone ban in her former postings, was greeted by banners calling for her removal placed throughout the campus at the school’s anniversary celebrations last week.
The banners bore slogans that said: “Out with Shu Fen the despot,” “authoritarians not wanted at Banqiao High” and “unite for the spirit of freedom,” among others.
Some students on a student-run Facebook page said that the incoming principal must pledge to protect their rights and respect the school’s tradition of students’ self-governance, or face protesters prepared to resist her “to the bitter end.”
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