By Izunna Okafor, Awka
The Anambra State Government has placed a strict ban on the use of mobile phones by students in secondary schools across the state, authorizing principals and teachers to confiscate any mobile phone found in the possession of students during school hours.
The directive, issued by Professor Nkechi Ikediugwu, Chairman of the Post Primary Schools Service Commission, during the Anambra Schools’ Cultural Day celebration held in Awka on Friday, is said to be aimed at curbing distractions and enhancing academic performance among the students.
Further confirming this in an interview with this reporter, Izunna Okafor, on Saturday, Prof. Ikediugwu emphasized the importance of maintaining discipline and focus in the learning environment, lamenting that the excessive use of mobile phones by students has become a major impediment to their academic excellence and performances.
According to her, the increasing use of mobile phones by students during school hours has become a serious distraction to their studies.
She said the distraction had gotten to the extent that some students now chat, play games, and do some other things with their phones while classes are ongoing, while some students even fight over phones in school, which she said is unacceptable, breeds conflicts, and indiscipline, and disrupts the smooth flow of academic activities.
She added that some students who don’t have android phones, seeing their fellow students flaunt their phones in school, might even be pushed to misplace their priorities, develop inferiority complexes, or resort to stealing or other desperate means to acquire one, thereby introducing them to criminal tendencies at an early stage, among other negative influences.
These intolerable attitudes, according to her, are contributing to moral decadence, poor academic performance, and a decline in students’ sense of responsibility. She stressed that if the issue is not urgently addressed, it could further escalate into a bigger societal problem where young people become more addicted to social vices rather than their studies.
While noting that the concerns about the negative impacts of the abuse of phones among students had been raised countless times during Parents Teachers Association (P.T.A.) meetings, the PPSSC Chairman reiterated her earlier warnings to parents and guardians to monitor their children’s use of mobile phones at home and discourage them from bringing phones to school.
She urged parents to see the enforcement of the ban as a step towards securing their children’s future, emphasizing that schools are meant to be centers of learning and discipline, not avenues for social distractions.
She further authorized the principals and teachers to seize any phone brought to school by any student, without returning it to the student again.
“I am authorizing principals and teachers to seize phones from students who come to school with them so that we can ensure they concentrate fully on their academic work without unnecessary interference.”
While noting that such seized phones must be returned to the parents/guardians of the student later with a final note of warning, she warned that any repetition of such an act by the student may result in outright expulsion of the student from the school, to serve as a deterrent to others and to the parents as well.
She reiterated that the Governor Chukwuma Soludo-led administration is making substantial investments in the education sector to promote academic excellence and instill discipline among students, adding that the enforcement of this ban aligns with the government’s commitment to fostering a conducive learning environment.
According to her, the state government would not tolerate any act capable of undermining its vision for a progressive and disciplined education system.
The PPSSC Chairman concluded that all hands must be on deck to ensure the proper upbringing of children, adding that discipline and strong moral values remain the foundation for a better society. She further urged school authorities, parents, and other stakeholders to work together in enforcing the directive, further assuring that strict monitoring mechanisms would be put in place to ensure compliance across all secondary schools in the state.
The enforcement of the policy, she noted, would be of great benefit to the students and the state’s educational system at large.
