Banned from using cell phones in school, students react

(Dan Tri) - When the school first implemented the policy of not using phones in school, including during recess, many students expressed discomfort because they thought they needed phones.

Mr. Dang Van Thanh, Vice Principal of Thanh Loc High School, Ho Chi Minh City shared this at the workshop "Strengthening the building of a healthy school environment, not using mobile phones during recess", organized by the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City on the morning of September 18.

Mr. Dang Van Thanh, Vice Principal of Thanh Loc High School, Ho Chi Minh City (Photo: Hoai Nam).

Mr. Thanh said that in the 2024-2025 school year, the school will implement the regulation "No cell phone use in school, including during recess" based on observations of the reality of students "living in a virtual world ".

At that time, during recess, instead of chatting with friends, many students looked down at their phones, did not participate in sports activities, and the schoolyard was quiet because it lacked the excitement of student life.

Not only that, many children get lost in social networks, making negative comments, gossiping, and even insulting each other, leading to conflicts and even violence.

The principal shared that before implementing the "phone-free school", the school consulted and received support from parents.

Instead of banning and leaving it at that, the school has offered many activities to replace phones for students such as equipping public phones for students to contact their families; organizing sports, cultural and artistic activities, music clubs; investing in libraries to create open learning spaces for students...

After a year of implementing the “phone-free school”, the school recorded that students were less distracted, more focused in class; more active in activities during recess; connected directly with each other, students reduced conflicts and disagreements online; students were less stressed and improved the situation of overweight and obesity at school...

Mr. Thanh said that now his school's students are familiar with and respond to learning and playing activities in a phone-free environment.

Thanh Loc High School students participate in the music club (Photo: School).

When the "no phone" rule was first issued, the principal remembered that many students expressed their discomfort and complained with reasons such as needing the phone to contact parents, get information from friends, relieve stress, and consult study information...

Talking about students using phones at school and in class, Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van Dong, Deputy Head of Department PA03 of Ho Chi Minh City Police, shared that in the classroom, if teachers are teaching and suddenly TikTok music is played, it is not good, this belongs to basic behavioral culture.

Not to mention that students going online also brings with it many pitfalls such as fraud, kidnapping, bullying, online harassment...

Lieutenant Colonel Tran Van Dong informed that currently up to 90% of children access social networks and access them daily, while only about 35% of students are aware of how they spend their time online.

Phone cabinet in classroom at Gifted High School, Ho Chi Minh City National University (Photo: NT).

Because of this, families and schools want to find consensus in limiting children's inappropriate use of phones and social networks.

100% of schools in Ho Chi Minh City implement phone restrictions during recess

According to the draft of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, the implementation of restricting the use of phones during recess at schools will be carried out in two phases.

Phase 1 is a pilot program at 16 schools, starting from October this year until the end of semester 1. Phase 2, from January 2016, will be implemented simultaneously at all general education institutions in the area.

Regarding implementation, each school has at least 3 diverse alternative activities during recess (sports, arts, folk games, reading, life skills club...); students participate in at least one group activity, and there is no longer a situation of using phones for personal entertainment purposes during recess.

Ho Chi Minh City implements school restrictions on cell phones during recess (Photo: Hoai Nam).

Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu, Director of the Department of Education and Training of Ho Chi Minh City, said that the Department's viewpoint is not to absolutely ban students from bringing cell phones to school. Schools should not prohibit them in an extreme way, but should guide students to actively use them safely and appropriately so that the phones are used to serve essential needs, support learning, and communicate when needed.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/bi-cam-dung-dien-thoai-trong-truong-hoc-sinh-phan-ung-20250918152318526.htm