Saturday, July 28, 2007
STRICT enforcement of banning the use of mobile phones in schools is needed, due to students misusing the electronic gadgets during classes. Besides creating disruptions, their acts have also affected their studies. This observation comes from both students and teachers.
Many wrongdoings concerning mobile phones are conducted by school children nowadays. Some students would go as far as stealing mobile phones in schools.
The less 'harmful' acts of students would be chatting and playing songs in classes, said Noorul Shahbuddin, an English teacher at Sayyidina Husain Secondary School. "This is a problem of discipline," she added.
She observed that when more students started owning mobile phones, their classmates would urge their parents to purchase mobile phones as well, even when they did not actually need a hand phone.
"Parents don't really care about the impact, because they trust their children too much. They don't think the impact on their children's school results," she added.
"I don't mind students using mobile phones, as long as they don't use it in class," she said, pointing out that students may have reasons to use hand phones, if it was for emergency purpose.
She told The Brunei Times that, because of such problems, a new rule had been introduced at her school, whereby students' mobile phones would be confiscated if they were caught bringing them to school.
"If they are caught, they have to wait for two weeks before their parents can actually collect the phone," she said.
Second offence would require parents to wait for a month before getting the phone back, said the educator, who had been teaching for less than two years.
"Some students want a mobile phone just to show off to their friends, how rich they are," said Alsnizamuddin Zainul Shah from Rimba Secondary School.
He said that students could live without mobile phones, because it was not a necessity. "If they need to use the phone, they can contact their parents through using the school's phone," he said.
The 18-year-old student said that his school had also enforced a new rule, whereby all mobile phones belonging to students were banned in the school grounds.
"However, some senior students are still ignoring the rules, when they are supposed to set an example to the juniors," he said.
He also explained that there were instances where students would take advantage of the free period without a teacher to play music loudly from the hand phones, causing disruptions to other students or classes.
"I don't think confiscating mobile phones will work at school, because some students will continue to use it," said Nisa Bakar, 15.
The St Andrew's School student said that her classmates would play games and even call their friends during classes.
"The teacher wouldn't notice because the class is too noisy," she said, adding that mobile phones could cause distractions to their studies.
According to her, the only reason that justifies students using mobile phones in school is when students fall ill and they need their parents to fetch them immediately.
A secondary computer teacher, on the other hand, said that there was no harm in bringing cell phones to school, unless students started misusing them in class.
"I've never encountered students causing problems with their mobile phones," said the teacher from Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Science College.
She said that students might need mobile phones to get in touch with parents and teachers, particularly for emergency.
"If parents limit their children's usage of mobile phones, then they would also have to restrict their time spending in front of TV and computer," she said.
"The more restrictions they have, the more rebellious they are," she continued. Michael, a private company worker, gave a suggestion: "I think it's okay to have hand phones for school children, as long as they remember to switch off during classes. Just as they do when watching movies."
The number of mobile phone subscribers in Brunei has sky-rocketed from 177, 372 to 209, 913 as of March 2005, according to figures from the Economic Planning and Development Department.
The Brunei Times
Many wrongdoings concerning mobile phones are conducted by school children nowadays. Some students would go as far as stealing mobile phones in schools.
The less 'harmful' acts of students would be chatting and playing songs in classes, said Noorul Shahbuddin, an English teacher at Sayyidina Husain Secondary School. "This is a problem of discipline," she added.
She observed that when more students started owning mobile phones, their classmates would urge their parents to purchase mobile phones as well, even when they did not actually need a hand phone.
"Parents don't really care about the impact, because they trust their children too much. They don't think the impact on their children's school results," she added.
"I don't mind students using mobile phones, as long as they don't use it in class," she said, pointing out that students may have reasons to use hand phones, if it was for emergency purpose.
She told The Brunei Times that, because of such problems, a new rule had been introduced at her school, whereby students' mobile phones would be confiscated if they were caught bringing them to school.
"If they are caught, they have to wait for two weeks before their parents can actually collect the phone," she said.
Second offence would require parents to wait for a month before getting the phone back, said the educator, who had been teaching for less than two years.
"Some students want a mobile phone just to show off to their friends, how rich they are," said Alsnizamuddin Zainul Shah from Rimba Secondary School.
He said that students could live without mobile phones, because it was not a necessity. "If they need to use the phone, they can contact their parents through using the school's phone," he said.
The 18-year-old student said that his school had also enforced a new rule, whereby all mobile phones belonging to students were banned in the school grounds.
"However, some senior students are still ignoring the rules, when they are supposed to set an example to the juniors," he said.
He also explained that there were instances where students would take advantage of the free period without a teacher to play music loudly from the hand phones, causing disruptions to other students or classes.
"I don't think confiscating mobile phones will work at school, because some students will continue to use it," said Nisa Bakar, 15.
The St Andrew's School student said that her classmates would play games and even call their friends during classes.
"The teacher wouldn't notice because the class is too noisy," she said, adding that mobile phones could cause distractions to their studies.
According to her, the only reason that justifies students using mobile phones in school is when students fall ill and they need their parents to fetch them immediately.
A secondary computer teacher, on the other hand, said that there was no harm in bringing cell phones to school, unless students started misusing them in class.
"I've never encountered students causing problems with their mobile phones," said the teacher from Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Science College.
She said that students might need mobile phones to get in touch with parents and teachers, particularly for emergency.
"If parents limit their children's usage of mobile phones, then they would also have to restrict their time spending in front of TV and computer," she said.
"The more restrictions they have, the more rebellious they are," she continued. Michael, a private company worker, gave a suggestion: "I think it's okay to have hand phones for school children, as long as they remember to switch off during classes. Just as they do when watching movies."
The number of mobile phone subscribers in Brunei has sky-rocketed from 177, 372 to 209, 913 as of March 2005, according to figures from the Economic Planning and Development Department.
The Brunei Times