A chara, – I read with dismay that “the Department of Education is not planning a blanket ban on smartphones across schools” (News, October 28th). Instead, the Minister or Education Norma Foley is “drawing up guidelines for primary school and parents’ associations who wish to introduce a voluntary no smartphone code”.
The Minister promises to provide an opportunity for parents “to work in co-operation with primary schools to develop policies around buying phones for children”. Introducing guidelines and working with primary schools and parents’ associations involves so much paperwork and time that our schools do not have.
I am retired for 12 years as a primary school principal and the amount of policies and paperwork that was piled on my desk back then left very little time to deal with people, the bread and butter of my school.
Primary schools have enough policies. May I suggest strongly that placing a total ban on using mobile phones anywhere on the school premises would ease the workload of primary school principals and boards of management.
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This ban should include school-related activities such as annual tours and sports fixtures. The use of a class group WhatsApp controlled by the class teacher would monitor any unforeseeable events that may occur, such as delayed school transport, school closure, personal sickness, etc.
In the same article, the principal of St Patrick’s National School Bray, Rachel Harper said “childhood seems to be getting shorter and shorter and we feel a lot of children are not emotionally ready to manoeuvre a smart device”.
These sentiments are endorsed by Prof Tina Bruce, a follower of Froebelian educational principles: “Quality education is about three things: the child, the context in which learning takes place and the knowledge and understanding which the child develops and learns.”
The easy accessibility of an electronic device is educationally useless for the underdeveloped brain of a child. What a waste of childhood!
And all because of no action, just more paperwork and talking between the very people responsible of these young lives, our parents and our government. Immediate action is needed. This is a no-brainer. – Yours, etc,
BRENDA MORGAN,
Howth,
Co Dublin.