Starting this school year, cell phones will be prohibited during class. With a few exceptions: students can use them during breaks, for educational purposes, with the consent of the classroom teacher, but also in spaces specially designed for this purpose. And those who do not comply will have their phone confiscated until the end of the day. However, this is exactly what will make many teachers “close their eyes” and avoid picking up the devices, Dan Tita, the president of the Parents’ Association in Sector 2 of the Capital, told Adevărul. Moreover, according to him, the measure, which was introduced in the new Student Statute, also comes with a big contradiction.
Students caught with a cell phone during class will be without it. Archive
In the new Student Statute it is stated that, throughout the school program, students’ mobile phones will be deposited in a secure space, specially arranged in each classroom. In addition to the students, the principals, the director of the educational unit and the duty teacher will have access to this space.
What happens to students who do not comply? I run out of phones. Specifically, the teacher who catches them using their phone during class can confiscate their device. It will be handed over to the principal who will return it at the end of the class that day. “And here comes the great contradiction. On the one hand it is said that students have access to the phone during breaks, in specially arranged spaces and in the classroom with the consent of the teacher, on the other hand the confiscated phone is returned at the end of the day“. What if after the phone is confiscated the student needs it in class? In the next class, for educational purposes? “So, do you or don’t you have access to your phone in school?” asks the father rhetorically.
Dan Tita also said that this rule of confiscating the phone throughout the day, handing over the device to the school management, will lead to a reversed phenomenon. “There will be many teachers who will avoid confiscating children’s cell phones once they’ve caught them with them in class. It is complicated to do this because a handover report should be drawn up. Because it’s one thing to take the phone and keep it on the desk until the end of the class, when you return it, and another to take it to the secretariat, and let the device stay there all day”.
“Without sanctions you don’t discipline anyone”
On the other hand, if the student does not want to hand over the phone, what happens? “Schools should provide for sanctions“, is the opinion of the father. Sanctions that, for now, do not exist. “The teacher could say: I caught you, I’m taking it from you and the parent comes at the end of the day to get it back. The second time I catch you, I take it from you again, but you also get a reprimand. The third time your grade is deducted for wearing. That’s the only way this measure would really work. What if you take it? They get it back and that’s it! There are no penalties for now. And without concrete sanctions, you don’t discipline anyone. These should be established at the level of each educational unit. And likewise, each school should have its own rules. To decentralize this system”.
An old measure, applied in schools for a long time
This rule or prohibition was also observed before. “I imposed this rule following a meeting with the parents of 8th grade students”, a Andreia Bodea, director of the ILCaragiale National College in Bucharest, stated for “Adevărul”. “The teachers who teach the exam subjects also participated in that meeting and they said clearly: they cannot prepare the children properly because the students are always staring at their phones.” says the teacher.
The proposal was voted by the parents, and in a short time the students were provided with some metal boxes where they leave their mobile devices overnight. “These boxes are locked. When the classes are over, the boxes are opened and the students take their devices”explains the high school principal. “Where he wanted, he could”, comments Dan Tita. “At my child’s school, for example, there have been boxes for two years the students store the phones”, he also said.
