mobile phones may be banned from school grounds

The Herald Sun, Peter Rolfe, 2 September 2007; Media Release, Australian Mobile
Telecommunications Association, 12 August 2007

 

Schools are urging the Victorian Government to produce a policy to assist them in dealing with mobile phone-based incidents.

The Herald Sun has indicated that schools feel alone when it comes to handling mobile phone disputes with students.
Each school is left to develop their own policy on the use of mobile phones during school hours and within school
grounds.

Some schools have banned mobile phones from classrooms. Other schools have developed mobile phone codes of conduct that their students must follow or risk having their phone confiscated. According to The Herald Sun, Trinity Grammar has an outright ban on all mobile phones. Oberon High has implemented a ‘if it rings, it is teachers’
property’ policy. Carey Baptist Grammar expects students to leave their mobile phones in their lockers during school hours.

Opposition education spokesperson, Martin Dixon, believes that the Victorian Government should assist schools by
drafting guidelines to ban mobile phones from school grounds.

Yet a spokesperson for Victorian Education Minister, Bronwyn Pike, has said that it is up to each school to develop
their own guidelines by consulting parents and teachers.

The move toward banning mobile phones comes from schools experiencing disruptions in class and in school activities, and from mobile phones equipped with cameras and video capabilities used to capture footage of other students
without their knowledge or consent.

The Australian Mobile Telecommunications Association (AMTA) has developed a mobile phone in schools policy to
assist teachers, students and parents to manage the use of mobile phones in schools. For more information, visit
the Think B4 U click website.

 

 

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