Most high schools in Ho Chi Minh City have told students that their phones are no longer welcome in class, in a bid to lessen class disruptions and more importantly wholesale cheating.
“The use of cell phones in the wrong place at the wrong time will affect students’ performance, teachers’ lectures and the concentration of other students,” Nguyen Huu Dieu, principal of the Thu Duc High School, told Sai Gon Tiep Thi (Sai Gon Marketing) newspaper.
Students’ phones are already being confiscated, forcing parents to collect them from school offices.
The no-cell phone policy has been applied widely at local schools for the past few years. Some even hand out poor marks to students who are repeat offenders.
Mobile phones, threats to educational environment
The regulations are considered a response of HCMC educational institutes towards the increasing appearances of cell phones at schools, distracting students’ from the lessons and interrupting teachers’ lectures.
Like with everybody else, mobile phones are gaining in popularity among teenagers. And parents in urban cities consider them essential for security reasons.
Children, some still in primary school, are also given cell phones to bring to class.
But aside from their benefits, the devices have also generated more problems to school security and discipline.
Classes are often interrupted by phones ringing or vibrating. Some students even use text messages and internet connections to find answers during exams, turning the handsets into high-tech cheating tools.
The phones’ built-in camera capabilities have also been used to post embarrassing and harassing videos to online video sites like YouTube.
Students even store and exchange pornography and other banned materials at school via their mobile handsets.
“A majority of students don’t like the policy but without the cell phones, they will focus more on their studies,” Le Viet Cang, a teacher at the Le Minh Xuan High School, said. “If they keep using the class sessions to text messages, listen to music or share files, how much knowledge will be left for class?”
He said most students use the devices for listening to music, watching films and texting each other rather than contacting their parents.
“The parents can call their kids via their cell phones asking about what they are doing and where they are at,” Nguyen Thi Kim Cuc, a psychology consultant, said. “But sometimes the kids tell their parents they are at school while, in fact, they are playing outside.”
But the teenagers, who have grown up in a different technologically friendly world than their parents and teachers, still find a way to sneak phones onto school grounds. Some cope with the sudden checks of the schools by hiding their phones in some of the most unexpected places, such as garbage cans.
Milder approach
There were also local schools which choose a milder approach to the controversial issue by restricting the use of cell phones among students to school grounds only.
“Our school allows students to bring their handsets to the school but they have to turn them off during class,” Lam Van Trieu, deputy principal of the Le Hong Phong High School where cell phone users account for 80 percent of the school’s students.
“Mobile phones are personal belongings for students to contact their families and friends,” he said. “We are encouraging them to use modern technology, so there is no reason to ban them from using the devices.”
“The use of cell phones has both positive and negatives,” Nguyen Thi Phi, principal of the Duc Tri Secondary School, said. “What’s important is how to know what students use the devices for and team up with parents to have timely measures to the problem.”
Mobile phones are enjoying an increasing popularity among Vietnamese as they are considered not only high-tech devices but also fashion accessories.
The country, home to nearly 86 million people, currently has about 97 million mobile phone subscribers.
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