CAIRO - The convenience that mobile phones have created for users has made the mere thought of losing instant connection with others quite disturbing. This has proven to be the case with all categories of users whether they are businesspeople, professionals or even students. Yet the question of whether mobile phones ought to be allowed in schools or not remains a point of disagreement between parents, teachers and school administrators. In accordance with Ministry of Education directives mobiles are banned in schools. But a recent incident of sexual abuse, which took place during the school day on school premises, was exposed by a phone camera has shown that these directives are barely observed. Ironically, many pupils are keen to keep their phones active in class to receive calls from their private tutors to make appointments for after-school tutoring. Some school administrations have opted to allow students the use of these mobiles under certain guidelines and yet have left teachers to deal with the problem in class. Others have been clear-cut in asking pupils to leave their mobiles at home. Parents of students, who disobey are usually summoned to school to get their children's phones back. According to Mahmoud Helmi a second-year student at a public secondary school in Badrashein, Giza, the school has never instructed them about mobile phones. He and his mates find it logical that as long as their teachers answer their phones in class then they have the same right. He told Al-Shorouq, the daily independent Arabic newspaper, “Even if a teacher forbade us from answering our phones, we still have our ways to use the phone without being noticed”. Distracting as it might be, text messaging, students admit, has become very common in class in order to pass notes to one another and also to exchange photos or dirty jokes. Nashwa Hassan, a social studies teacher at a private school in October 6, who is herself a parent of a l5-year old student at the same school, describes ringing tones of mobile phones in class as disturbing and distracting to the entire class. Although phones are strictly forbidden in her school she says it is quite difficult to maintain control. She however asks her students to silence their phones albeit allowing them to answer calls from home. Omar Morsi a teacher at Saeda Nafissa Girls' School complained that his students use mobile phones inappropriately, usually claiming that their incoming calls are from their mums. Morsi however believes that these high school girls are old enough to know what is in their own good. “I cannot watch over each and every girl”, he added. Out of concern over the safety of their children many parents are prompted to hand their offspring mobile phones. They believe that, it is after all, the only way to keep in touch with them during the school day. It also greatly reassures them that their children would be able to reach them in the instance of any emergency. Because of such issues many American states changed their laws to allow schools to decide for themselves whether or not to allow students to carry cell-phones. Prior to the 9/11 attacks, state laws banned students from having access to these handsets. But that prevented many students from reaching their parents on that day because the ground lines were all busy.
