Students raise concerns at forum on school phone management rules

Taipei, June 1 (CNA) Students raised concerns Sunday about accountability for centralized phone storage at schools and whether school affairs councils would honor democratically reached decisions, during a Ministry of Education (MOE) forum on a draft policy for managing mobile phone use in schools.

The draft policy, announced in May, states that elementary and junior high school students must obtain parental consent to bring mobile devices to school and that any devices would be stored centrally by the school authorities.

High schools, on the other hand, would be required to hold discussions with students, parents and teachers to discuss device management mechanisms, the policy said.

The MOE invited students and youth representatives to speak at the national forum.

Pei Shan-cheng (裴善成), senior analyst at the MOE's Department of Information and Technology Education, said the earlier guidelines on mobile phone use did not distinguish between education level or usage context.

In contrast, the new draft aims to create "phased, flexible and clear" management rules, he said.

The updated policy draft requires junior high and elementary students' phones to be centrally stored with parental consent, Pei explained, while high schools may manage device safekeeping individually, by class, or school-wide.

He said the rules at high schools would need to be democratically discussed among teachers, students, and parents, with students comprising at least one-third of participants.

Pei also said the school affairs council must respect any decisions made.

At the forum, a student from Taipei Municipal Chien Kuo High School said collective storage of mobile devices makes responsibility for loss or damage "difficult to delineate."

The student added that many teachers at their school use phones in class, and collecting and redistributing them would take time.

A student from the Affiliated Senior High School of National Taiwan Normal University (HSNU) said it is unclear whether the school affairs council will respect the results of the democratic process.

A student from New Taipei Municipal Banqiao Senior High School said the draft is administrative guidance that lacks enforcement mechanisms.

Wu Ying-tien (吳穎沺), Director of the MOE's Department of Information and Technology Education, said the ministry would review the draft principles in response to student concerns.