J Initiative Calls for Govt, Industry Alliance On Mobile Phone Guidelines

The use of mobile phones in Senior High Schools (SHS) has engendered interesting perspectives by both proponents and opponents of the use of mobile phones in SHS.

Taking advantage of the on-going National Cyber Security Week, non-governmental organisation, J Initiative has asked government and interactive industry players, including telecommunication companies to reach consensus on a workable governing document on use of mobile phones by children, including pupils.

Recently, there was a call by education authorities to ban the use of mobile phones in senior high schools.

But this has not been followed by a dialogue on the matter, according to J Initiative, which was the first NGO to start the call to government and other stakeholders on the need for serious action in protecting the digital Rights of children and young people since 2013.

The NGO believes there is now the need for a discussion among all stakeholders to actually come up with a directive which will be relevant to the digital age.

"J Initiative is calling on Government to initiate a dialogue between parents, teachers, students, mobile network operators and Internet service providers," the NGO said, explaining that "It is crucial for stakeholders to formulate a comprehensive national guideline on mobile phone and other devices use in education institutions."

J Initiative, a member of the National Cyber Security Week planning committee set up by the Ministry of communications, makes the call to coincide with a weeklong event that spans the period Monday 23rd October to Friday 27th October 2017 as part of global Cyber Security Awareness month, which is being celebrated throughout October.

J Initiate's statement, appended by its head, Awo Aidam Amenyah, stressed that "This proposal should be made possible with the support of industry players because they have and could be best placed to proffer workable solutions to the challenges being adduced" by those who oppose the use of mobile phones in schools.

"Maybe, it's about time the regulator and government in consultation with the service providers designed 'risk assessment' framework to moderate the interactive services that children and young people use or have access to while exploring on these service networks," J Initiative suggested.

Read Full Story