Pupils, the phone ban and suspensions

Education Minister Kyriakos Pierrakakis recently stated that the number of pupils who have been suspended for using a cellphone at school after they were banned at the start of the year had surpassed 6,000. This is just a fraction of the student population, which tells us that the measure is working so far. The vast majority of pupils complied with the ban, which, quite frankly, surprised me.

I honestly did not expect youngsters who have made their phones extensions of themselves to abide by a measure that forbids them from using them during a third of their day. What does this prove? That disciplinary oversight works, under one condition: that those who exercise control in theory also do so in practice. And how do we know this is the case? Because wrongdoers are being punished.

The success of the measure so far is largely down to the teachers enforcing it. They are the ones who identified the wrongdoers and they are the ones who cited them for further action.

When the ban was first announced, the very word “suspension” caused the usual reactions from the usual extreme liberal circles and, of course, from the Left – they see eye-to-eye on such matters – which repeated their usual rote about an “autocratic,” “far-right” government. They forgot that discipline without oversight is nonexistent and oversight without fear of punishment is an empty letter. These are the rules that govern relations in civilized societies – and we’ve all seen what happens when they’re abandoned. In the sensitive area of secondary education especially – where students first start becoming aware of the need, or not, for social cohesion and discipline – oversight and punishment are intrinsic elements of this process. Even the school uniform, a measure that has been grossly maligned in this country, is not only a sign of belonging but also an effort to prevent social differences that exist outside the classroom from being transferred into it. It helps instill a team spirit, an essential element of both persuasion and control.

This is precisely where a piecemeal measure, like the ban on mobile phones in schools, intersects with a broader view of the role of the classroom, the teacher and, of course, parents. If today’s social conditions have led to less control inside the family, this situation can be remedied if teachers reclaim their pedagogical role, which they abandoned under very specific political circumstances.

The success of the cellphone measure, therefore, has been largely due to the teachers. But I must also mention the parents who appear to have accepted both the policy and the consequences of its violation. So, we come to the common conclusion that without the cooperation of these two parties, no policy is likely to succeed in schools.