Should Cell Phones be Banned in Schools?

Schoolchildren and their parents have vociferously opposed the ban on the use of cell phones in school as they say that cell phones allow them to stay in touch with each other in case of an emergency. Teachers on the other hand have pointed out that these reasons are just a pretext for students to carry the cell phone in the schools and these have been put to a lot of abuse like taking photographs in bathrooms, surfing the internet and listening to music in the classrooms etc.

Pros of Allowing Cell Phones in Schools

There are numerous benefits of letting students carry their cell phones with them. Let us take a look at some of these benefits.

• In case of an emergency parents need to get in touch with the child urgently and this is where cell phones are of great help. Parents are assured that their kids are just a call away and this gives them a greater sense of security. Parents can directly call their wards in case of any untoward event without calling in the staff which leads to lesser classroom disruptions. Also, allowing students to have cell phones gives them access to various important services like 911, hospitals etc.
• Cell phones can also help the children in their studies as cell phones have various applications like a camera, calculator, organizer etc. Students can take the pictures of the projects, diagrams etc. and can then forward it to absent students so that they do not miss out on important topics. Most of the cell phones have the capacity to hold entire e-books, pdf files, research papers etc. which can benefit the students in a great way.
• Another argument which the proponents have in support of allowing the use of cell phones in the classroom is that it will help the students to get hold of the new techniques of learning early on in their lives as mobile education is predicted to be the future of education. Cell phones have many advantages like their portability, fast internet access etc. which gives the students to learn 'anywhere', 'anytime'. In 2007, public schools in North Carolina gave away QUALCOMM phones to enhance the maths-skills of their at-risk ninth grade students. Various universities are planning to make their test papers available to students via their cell phones with some other preparatory assignments. So, allowing students to have cell phones with them can be really advantageous for their studies.

Cons of Allowing cell phones in Schools

Let us take a look at some of the drawbacks of allowing cell phones in schools.

• As far as the debate on use of cell phones in schools is concerned, it has been seen that the cons outweigh the pros, courtesy the abuse to which the cell phones have been put through. Teachers have been most vocal about the use of cell phones in the classrooms as they say that students with cell phones are disinterested and also disturb other students in the classroom. Text messaging, video games, music players, social networking websites; these are some of the things that students tend to be more interested in.
• Another drawback of cell phone usage in the classroom is that it encourages the students to cheat in the examinations. A cell phone with internet facility on it means that students can easily get the answers to any examination, quiz etc.
• Camera cell phones have been used to take embarrassing photos of students in the washroom and locker room and then it is circulated amongst the others which can lead to bullying and blackmailing.
• Students have also used cell phones to cause panic in the schools by making faux calls to the authorities that there is a bomb in the school. What is more alarming is that students who have been held for these activities have revealed that they make these false calls because they feel bored in the classrooms and want to condense class time.

These were some of the pros and cons which have been raised whenever the question of allowing cell phones in schools is raised. Many people are of the opinion that a middle-path should be adopted to ensure that cell phones are being used in the right way. They opine that cell phones should be allowed in the school campus and the students should be told to keep the cell phones in their lockers. Before they enter the classrooms, they should be checked thoroughly because students have devised new methods of carrying the cell phones in the classrooms. The main aim of any technology is to make our lives easier; so we have to ensure that technology is not put to any abuse. This issue draws different responses from different sections of the society, so policy-makers have to ensure that they give everyone's opinion a thought so that there aren't too many ambiguities.