The Ashanti Regional Students’ Representative Council (ARSRC) has renewed its call on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to fast track the policy being developed on the usage of mobile devices in schools.
The council made the call following a decision by the GES to withdraw the boarding status of seven female final year students of the Ejisuman Senior High School in the Ashanti Region.
The students were captured in a viral video making sexually suggestive comments.
The development has sparked varied criticisms as some interest groups have called on the education management body to reconsider their decision.
Reacting to the development, however, Coordinator of the Ashanti Regional Students’ Representative Council (ARSRC), Raphael Sarkodie said the usage of mobile devices in second-cycle schools is long overdue but needs proper regulations.
“The SRC will always endorse any decision by the GES”, Mr Sarkodie said. “What we believe is that students should be able to stick to the rules and regulations in school. This is not the first time we are getting such reports, however, we feel that if the students should use phones in this technological era… Obviously, we are not calling for blanket usage of phones but we want that policy regulated”.
The Ghana Education Service (GES) policy does not permit students in second-cycle schools to use a mobile phone.
In 2017, the National Secretary of the Conference of Heads of Assisted Secondary Schools (CHASS), Samuel Gyebi Yeboah, said the use of mobile phones will be a problem.
In June 2019, however, Education Minister, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh at a press conference said government has developed a new policy to regulate the use of mobile phones in Senior High Schools.
By Jonathan Ofori, Daily Mail GH
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