The Ghana Education Service (GES), over the years, has banned the use of mobile phones in primary and secondary schools to enable students concentrate more on their studies.
According to the Service, the uncontrolled use of mobile phones by the students has had a negative impact on their education, since they waste valuable time on social media platforms.
In recent times, some students have been trending on social media over the release of ‘twerk’ videos, nudes, videos of them smoking and other promiscuous activities.
GhanaWeb spoke to some Ghanaians about the debate on phone usage by students in school and whether or not the ban should be reviewed or maintained.
According to some people, the ban should be lifted as we are in an information age; powered by technology and internet connectivity. To them, the focus should rather be on regulation of these phones by students.
“There are advantages and disadvantages of using the phone. It depends on the way you use it. If you use it wisely, like in terms of difficulties you can call somebody to help you. But if they will just use it for fun, then it’s not all that beneficial. If the ban remains, it can affect people in some way. So it’s up to the parents or the masters in the school to tell them how to use the phone at the appropriate time,” one man said.
“They should be allowed to use mobile phones. The modern world now is being driven by the force of globalization. Now the barrier imposed by distance has been demolished by modern technology,” another man added.
Some people also were strongly in support of the ban because to them, it controls the level of student’s access to the internet or social media for the wrong reasons.
“I think the government should sustain the ban because they are supposed to be learning in school and not be on social media. You can bear with me on what we saw on social media just recently. So the government should insist on the continuous ban on the phones in secondary schools. They use the phones negatively instead of using it to do what they are expected to use the phones for,” one man said.
A recent secondary school graduate sided with the government on the ban of mobile phones in the institution. Speaking from experience, he emphatically stated that the focus and concentration of students will be minimised if they are given access to phones.
“Smart phones will not make you concentrate, because you are on social media; WhatsApp, Facebook, and you will be receiving those messages. But if you’re using the key-padded phone, that one is better. Some schools have phone booths, they can use that to call their parents,” he said.
To others, students are in school to study, and should strictly focus on that.
“I think the ban should continue because these phones can corrupt the students. They use it for good and bad things. As the students are in school, let them concentrate on the studies they went for,” he said.
“I think they should not allow them to use phone because they can use phone booths in school. Because if you look at what’s going on via social media, school children twerking and all those stuff, they shouldn’t be allowed. There are computer labs and others that they can use,” another man stated.
Another person also suggested that students should leave their mobile phones in the care of their house masters and leaders.
“If the person is in the boarding school, they should be allowed to take their phones to school because they would call their parents for information, I think the best thing the person must do is to give the phone to any housemaster to keep for them,” she said.
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