MOBILE PHONE or cell phone usage in Ghana has presently become common due to the crucial role it plays in information transmission and the easy manner in which it facilitates information flow to people.
AS a result of the mobile phone invasion in Ghana, the era where people queued for the use of phone booths to make calls have gone extinct even though these services still exist in developed and advanced countries.
THIS tells us that Information Communication Technology (ICT) and globalization have transformed this part of our world into a new generation with the introduction of cell phones.
HOWEVER, Today notes with grave concern the way and manner in which the use of mobile phones have been abused and used for all kinds of nefarious activities.
IT is very heart-bleeding to see people using mobile phones for wrong purposes like amassing wealth through scams and other foul means.
IT is in this vein that Today throws its weight behind the Ghana Education Service (GES) directive to ban the use of mobile phones by students in Senior High Schools (SHSs).
AUTHORITIES in SHS have been mandated by GES to confiscate mobile phones of recalcitrant students under the ban on the use of mobile phone equipment on school compounds.
THE GES reminded all parents and guardians of SHS students in the country that the ban on mobile phones in schools was still in force and urged school authorities to strictly enforce it.
UNDER the directive no mobile phones are to be carried anywhere on school compounds.
THE paper therefore commends the GES and its stakeholders for such a laudable initiative.
WE believe that if this ban is sternly enforced it will go a long way to weed out immorality in our schools since students would not get the chance to send love messages to their boyfriends and girlfriends.
THE paper also believes that by so doing, the students can concentrate on their studies and pass their exams very well for which purpose they are in school.
TODAY also cautions against the fact that we should not lose sight of how cunning and smart SHS students of this generation can be. They will try to be sharp and adopt tactics to outwit school authorities, hence the need for school authorities to be strict to ensure that the ban works to achieve the expected results.
THE paper also calls for disciplinary measures to be put in place to punish whoever goes contrary to this rule. This is to serve as deterrent to other students who have the intention of committing the same offence.
WHILE commending the GES for this step, Today also thinks that it is imperative that the nation’s premier telecommunication company, Vodafone, ensures that phone booths are provided in all SHS schools across the country so that students can reach their parents and guardians to put their needs before them.