A week into the South Australian government’s ban on mobile phones in schools, teenagers have taken to social media to show ways they are flouting the rules.
Key points:
- A ban on mobile phones in high schools came into effect on Monday
- The opposition says students have already found ways around a lockable pouch system used in some schools
- The government says there are disciplinary procedures in place
A ban on mobile phone use in public high schools started at 44 sites on Monday, with all schools required to transition to the new state government policy by the beginning of term three.
Eleven SA schools are using a system where students are given lockable pouches to store their phone, smart watches and earphones during the school day.
The pouches are sealed by tapping it on a locking station around the perimeter of the school, and unlocked the same way at the end of the day, with teachers doing “random checks” to ensure they are locked.
But today Shadow Education Minister John Gardner said teenagers had already worked out how to open the pouches and had been posting about different techniques on TikTok.
“It’s really a public service announcement that students of South Australia are very familiar with the new TikTok trend of how to get around the new Yondr pouches,” he said.
Mr Gardner said schools had not been given any “extra powers” to manage the policy or the cost.
“Our schools have been tasked with the challenge of delivering on the government’s political rhetoric [but] they haven’t been given any support to do so by the government, no extra funding to improve their infrastructure,” he said.
“The government needs to be giving supports to schools to go above and beyond with their resources to deliver on their political promise.
“It’s not right that schools should have to do it without support from the government.”
The state government has left it up to individual schools to decide whether to use the pouch system, which costs about $30,000 to install.
The state government introduced the ban in the hope it would help curb bullying and violence as well as reduce distractions in the classroom.
It follows similar bans introduced at high schools in Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
On Friday, Education Minister Blair Boyer said it was “no surprise” teenagers had found ways around the system.
“I think really it actually highlights why we need to do something,” he said.
“Because the lengths and the extent that young people will go to stay attached to their devices — it shows why we need to do something.”
Mr Boyer said he was confident students would get used to the policy.
“We have strong disciplinary procedures in place already which will come into effect if students are found to be damaging the pouches or not complying with the policy.”
“A number of sites have already seen the benefit of the policy, which is kids spending more time particularly during recess and lunch actually out talking to each other and exercising.”
Findon High School principal Kathleen Hoare said she had seen an improvement after a just a week with the ban.
“It creates an amazing focus on the curriculum in the classroom because there are less distractions, but significantly in the yard it encourages play, it encourages face-to-face communication,” she said.
“Already, we can see that and our year 7 cohort has settled into high school with no issues, and I think that’s really indicative of how important it is developmentally for that age.”