Two schools in Bougainville ban use of cellphones
By ROMULUS MASIU
TWO leading schools in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville have banned their students from bringing their cell phones to school.
Authorities of the two schools – Hutjena Secondary School and Hahela Primary School –on Buka Island announced the ban after they experienced “cell phone boom” in their classrooms, dormitories and school premises.
Hutjena Secondary School principal Martin Takali yesterday told The National that many of his 700 boarding students own cell phones.
Mr Takali said the school authority did not want to interfere with the personal lives of the students, but it has come to their attention that students are not concentrating on their studies but becoming more engrossed with their handsets.
He said they have noticed that the performance of students in the classroom had dropped.
Mr Takali said: “The other reason as to why we are stopping them from carrying their cell phones to school is because our power bill has increased dramatically”.
“Definitely the students are using the power points in school premises, especially in the dormitory or classrooms, to recharge their cell phones.
“With the high number of mobile phones, power bill is set to increase”.
This is not good for a school running on a very tight budget,” he said.
Mr Takali said it has come to the attention of his staff that some students, especially females, are sneaking off or picked up at odd times by so-called “relatives ”.
“With the use of the cellphones, anything can happen, either good or bad,” he said.
Mr Takali said numerous public announcements for the students to leave their phones at home have been ignored.
The school authorities have now started confiscating cellphones of students who are caught “hooked up on the phone at the wrong place and at the wrong time”.
Students of Buka Island’s biggest primary school Hahela have been ordered to leave their cell phones at home starting this week.
The students and their parents were notified of the school’s decision last Sunday after a mass service at the Hahela Parish.
Parents were told that over half of the student population owned a cellphone which is distracting their studies.
They were also told that it was obvious, students are concentrating more on phones than their school work.
“From now on, whoever is caught carrying his/her cellphone to school will be dealt with by the school authorities,” the school announcement states.
However, some parents were not too happy with the decision saying cellphones could be useful for them to contact their children at school.
The region’s education officials say any school has the right to make decisions for their students but must go through the right procedures and through their board of management.
Buka, like other centres throughout the country, has experienced “cell phone boom” after Digicel launched its network in the region this month, for a week’s running price of K35 a hand set.
Both B Mobile and Digicel operate in the region.
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