Getty imagesThe commissioner of England children has said that there should be a decision for phone ban head teachers in schools and “not implemented by the government at the national level”.
According to a survey of 19,000 schools and colleges commissioned by Dame Rachel de Suja, nine out of nine secondary schools restrict the use of smartphones.
Dame Rachel said that children were racking for hours of screen time at home instead, and parents needed more help in managing their children’s online habits.
His comments came as the General Secretary of the UK’s largest teaching association, stating that a government ban on the phone would “pressurize schools”.
Survey of Dame Rachel shows that 99.8% of primary and 90% of secondary schools limits the use of phone during school days.
Most primary schools (76%) require students to hold their hands in their phones or leave it in a safe place during the day, while most secondary schools (79%) say the phone should be excluded and not used.
The survey does not state that these policies are fully implemented, or their success rate.
502 A separate survey of children aged between eight and 15 years, which has also been commissioned by Dame Rachel, suggests:
- 69% of children spend more than two hours a day on a device
- 23% of children spend more than four hours a day
Dame Rachel said in a new report, “These children are not spending these hours on their phone while sitting in school.” “It becomes much wider than that.”
He said that parents and carers need to “manage online activities of their children and support suitable limitations”, and technology companies “should take responsibility to secure the online world by design”.
Meanwhile, schools should “continue clear policies on the use of phones” and youth should educate about online risks.
Dame Rachel said, “Any head teacher who decides to ban mobile phones from his school has all my support – but it should always be their choice, based on their knowledge that what is the best for children in their classrooms, not in the direction of the national level by the government.”
However, his report also recommended that the government should “conduct more research in the possible benefits of comprehensive restrictions on children’s phones, especially social media use”.
A government spokesperson said that the social media platforms would have to reduce illegal materials already under the Online Security Act, and the same law will soon protect children from other harmful online materials and protect them from violence.
And the government has said that there is Already guidance can restrict the use of school phonesWhich prominent teachers can decide how to keep in practice.
But National Education Association General Secretary Daniel Cede said that he believes that a government ban on smartphones in schools will “help parents, but will also take pressure from schools”.
“Most schools have rules, but (a restriction) will create uniformity in the school system, which would be very important and ensure that a new culture was developed in which smartphones were not occupied during school time,” he said.
He said that Britain should consider The following in Australia’s footsteps With a social media ban for the Under -16, saying: “We have to see the online world, social media and mobile phones in the same prism as we look at tobacco companies. They are harmful to our young people and need regulation.”
