BOSETU Disapproves Use Of Cellphones By Students
Chakalisa Dube | Monday September 4, 2017 16:58
Late last week, when addressing BOSETU members at their elective congress, the Minister of Basic Education Unity Dow suggested that it was high time students were allowed to use cellphones in class. Dow argued that the use of cellphones will help students in their research and foster learning.
“ Teachers should manage their classrooms and make sure that the gadgets are used properly,” Dow said.
However Dow’s views attracted strong criticism from education stakeholders and members of the public. BOSETU secretary general (SG), Tobokani Rari forthrightly said Dow’s stance is not well thought out.
Rari explained that it will be difficult to monitor how students use their phones because teachers also have other competing duties to fulfill in the classroom.
He noted that the issue of classroom management is compounded by the teacher-student ratio, which is severely beyond the normal rate.
Rari, who was recently re-elected BOSETU SG, added that it is highly likely that students may stray into other sites such as the social media during class, which may disrupt their learning.
“If they stray into the social media, it will be difficult for a teacher to tell what they are doing at that particular moment,” he said.
Instead of mobile cellphones he said the government should only stick to the use of computers in public schools. He stated that the computers should be increased in schools to tally with the number of students.
“With computers the school can come up with strategies that can ensure that they can be accessed in a systematic way and be used for a given purpose because they are not entirely in the hands of the students,” he said.
The SG also said students should use the computers as per given schedule so that they do not cause serious disruptions in the learning process.