Ruby: Reactions: 'Does punishment fit crime?'

cellphone school Last week my column addressed the issue of mobile phones in schools.
THIS was after three girls at a school in Southern Province were expelled while two others were suspended until their final examinations for being found with phones.
In 2011, about 22 pupils mainly grade 12s at a Copperbelt boarding school were also suspended and underwent various forms of punishment for being found with mobile phones in their rooms. The school later sold the confiscated phones.
And last Monday, a writer to the Zambia Daily Mail said mobile phones were no longer a luxury but a means of communication as long as they were not misused. He called for comments regarding the use of phones in secondary schools.
Below are some of the reactions:
My daughter is at a boarding school where cellular phones are not allowed in school. When children open school, they have to leave their phones home. Communication is done through the school administration. If found with a cellular phone in class, a pupil will be punished (suspended and a second offender may even be expelled).
I think it is a good thing to forbid the use of cellphones in school so that children can concentrate on their studies. Mobile phones are very destructive in school because children want to spend time on the internet, especially the social media. Girls may end up into affairs to get money for talktime.
As a parent, i am happy with the rule on cellphones in schools. When children go to school, they are in the hands of the school manager and the boarding master. In case of sickness the school authorities could phone parents. When my daughter fell sick at a certain boarding school in Chipata, they promptly took her to the hospital. I am in Lusaka, but by the time they contacted me my daughter was already admitted to Chipata General Hospital. My uncle who lives in Chipata was also communicated to.
I salute the ban on cellphones in school and I think well-meaning parents should too. Children need to be brought up in a responsible manner because the future can be uncertain.
NYARONGO TEMBO, Lusaka.
Another reader, Mr C, said: Children in boarding schools need phones but should use them under the guidance of school authorities.
MR FISH asks: Where do we get these school administrators? It is clear that they do not move with time and have no clue how technology has evolved in the last 20 years. The cellphone is here to stay and the best they can do is help the young generation to use this tool responsibly rather than victimise them. Create school rosters when pupils can communicate with their friends and families, and the excitement for both the trigger-happy teachers and pupils will fade.
How can Government tolerate such nonsense? Can the Ministry of Education provide guidelines to deal with some of these issues if progress has to be made.
This is a classic case of bullying and the sale of the handsets by the school was theft. It is high time some of these schools, teachers and head teachers were dragged to courts of law in their personal capacities to explain their actions.
Where in the world do people still behave in this manner, the opposite is the practice in progressive educational systems where pupils are given 3G handsets or tablets to enhance learning. These gadgets are learning aids. it is time to put a ?STOP? to bullying and theft.
In fact in advanced societies, there are budgets where schools buy tablets and technological gadgets for children who cannot afford them. Phones are viewed as a plus to the knowledge of children. LUKE MWAMBA.
In boarding schools children should be allowed access to phones but usage should be regulated. Children can go with phones but should be kept by a member of staff and given over the weekend. TEACHER, Lusaka. ?
Children should be given access, so that parents are allowed to call about twice a week at stipulated times. Our school has observed that after children talk to family they get excited and perform better in class. CHISENGA K, Chisamba.
In some schools, visiting time is only allowed once a term such that if parents that come from distant places fail to make it, it means they won?t see their child for a whole term. This does not fare well for a child as the prolonged absence affects the child?s academic performance. MRS K, Kasama.? ?
A head teacher at a Lusaka school was surprised that pupils in an examination class could be suspended for being found with cellphones. He thought that kind of punishment defeats the purpose of preparing pupils for examinations.
EVARISTO MULIKITA of Ndola felt there should be no offence which warrants suspending or expelling a child from school. The Ministry of Education has directed that children who fail to pay school fees should not be sent away. Why should children who have paid school fees be treated differently on account of being in possession of cellphones? The Ministry of Education should come up with standardised punishment to be administered. This should not be left to individual schools.
Remember, children are our future. until next week, take care.
pchilufya@daily-mail.co.zm; pcmalawochilufya@yahoo.com or gender@daily-mail.co.zm.