Students have long been misusing their cell phones at school. Although its usage in Ghanaian schools is prohibited many students, both day and boarding students in SHS go to school with phones in their pockets or bags. One of the recent misuses was by Ejisuman SHS students. This gave the school located in Ejisu in the Ashanti Region of Ghana a bad name.
Since the COVID-19 struck many have been calling for the legalization of the usage of mobile phones in schools to help students access E-learning materials and sites from their devices. Others think students are already using it leading to amoral videos that have emerged from Senior High School in Ghana.
We cannot deny the fact that mobile phones can enable students to learn by accessing educational resources from their phones. All we need is an effective and well thought of policy to guide its usage in senior high schools.
Taking a critical decision on this before schools reopen will help however there is no need in rushing this if we want to come out with a good and realistic decision
Going forward, the GES and the MoE must quickly release some rules and modalities to help facilitate the responsible use of phones in school. This calls for well thought of rules and regulations and appropriate structures.
GES and the MoE may have to
1. Approve the use of mobile phones within our SHS for performing specific functions such as research related to academics, online learning on only education sites among others.
2. Institution of Healthy Phone Usage and Monitoring Committees in our schools. Such committees should have the power to seize phones used for activities that contradict with its usage in school.
3. Disciplinary action and steps students who feel aggrieved should go through if they think their phones have been seized unfairly.
4. Introduction of laws to govern phone usage in terms of time, hours, location since it cannot be permitted too often during lessons.
5. Privacy laws to prevent teachers and staff from intruding into the content of the phones until the school committee deems it fit.
From the above, it is evidently clear that there must be a device policy put in place for and a robust Mobile Device Management Solution will help to manage and secure all devices used by students to prevent misuse and distractions.
Many students think and feel the current restrictions are not fair and that has even given many students the option to hide such devices on them in school.
Schools and educational systems in Ghana and other parts of the world would have long been lenient if there were not really enough problems that have escalated from the illegal usage by students in the past.
We have to start thinking of how to deal with the current GES policy against mobile phone usage. But what do you think? Share your views as well and contribute to the debate.
Source: Wisdom Hammond | NewsGhana24
