Should mobile phones be accepted in schools

Jan 11, 2021 Leader Leading Education 0

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The question whether learners should be accepted to use mobile phones more especially in Primary and Secondary schools remains a divisive issue. It has spawned a lot of debate and may continue to do so for some time since education stakeholders seem to have diverse views. Amidst the absence of a specific ministerial policy framework, most schools continue to ban the use of cell phones. There are strong opinions on each side of the debate with conceivable arguments.

Most critics believe that phones lead students into using them for non-educational use in school to a situation where they become a distraction and potential tool for cheating, cyber-bullying and addiction to social media
during lessons. On the other hand, supporters name advantages like security, access to educational information, communication and an opportunity to teach students to be responsible by guiding them
to use phones responsibly.

What is clear is that cell phones can easily turn from “classroom learning tool” into “classroom disruption”. When students use their cell phones to check social media and text their friends in class, it leads to their distraction as well as for their peers; but it’s important to note that cell phones can be a helpful learning tool in class.

Oddly, as schools continue to bar the use of phones for learners, many of them still go ahead to smuggle phones into schools. Majority of the learners use them for social networking on sites like Facebook, Whatsapp and Twitter even when in class and this can lead to a decline in academic performance. This denotes that the battle against phones is ironically lost by schools and will continue to generate a lot of hubbub.

As educators we are faced with the unadorned reality that we can no longer keep students from using their cell phones at school even if we wanted to, therefore we should instead focus on teaching responsible use of phones. The ICT Policy for Uganda 2014, clearly states that it intended to promote the growth and implementation of Open, Distance and e-Learning (ODeL) modes of study and to pedagogically integrate ICTs in the teaching and learning process.

This denotes that since mobile gadgets are part of ICT, they should be embraced by schools. Therefore there is a need to have guidelines on how and when to use them. Perhaps if ODeL mode of teaching had been developed, the education disruption by COVID 19 wouldn’t have been what it is today. Read More at http://www.leadershipmagazine.org

By Michael Tumwesigye

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