Minister says 'tweaks' being made to 'centralised' strategy
A 'centralised' mobile phone policy in Island schools is hoped to be introduced during the current autumn term, the education minister has said.
Asked about progress on the matter in the House of Keys this week, Daphne Caine stated a few 'suggested tweaks' were being made to the plan following feedback from headteachers and trade unions.
When questioned on what it would involve, Mrs Caine added it would be what she described as an 'off and away' policy in which students would keep their mobile device on them but switched off and 'out of sight' for the whole school day.
Some secondary schools locally already have phone policies of their own in place - this latest DESC plan would also extend to primary schools.
A recent consultation on education legislation showed 281 people who responded to it were in favour of mobiles being banned in education environments.
Mrs Caine was questioned by Onchan MHK Julie Edge if she thought the views of 281 people was a fair representation of a total school population on the Isle of Man of nearly 12,000:
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