Ban on cell phones in SHS should be reconsidered – Ken Ashigbey

The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Telecommunications Chamber, Ken Ashigbey, has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to reconsider the ban on the use of mobile phones in Senior High Schools.

Speaking at the 88th Speech and Prize Giving Day of St. Augustine’s College he said the technological growth of the world is enough reason for the GES to allow students use phones in schools.

Speaking at the 88th Speech and Prize Giving Day of St. Augustine’s College last Saturday, he said, “Students are confronted by a global village and opportunities that are available in Ghana can also be accessed by students in India, China and across the globe, so they too can take advantage of the opportunities available globally."

“We have to look at the Ghana Education Service’s policy that does not allow students in secondary schools to use mobile phones. We need to bear in mind that mobile technology and digitization is defining the now and the future. Like any tool, it can be used for good and evil. The difference between us and the societies making progress is how they harness the tools available to them for the benefit of their society.”

However, in a quick response to Mr Ashigbey’s call, the Metropolitan Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Cape Coast, His Grace, Most Rev Mathias Kobina Nketsia said students must be exposed to technology cautiously.

He also urged that the students must be guided as they explore with their phones and other technological gadgets.

“Technology without character, ethical and moral formation is a very dangerous thing indeed. Technology must be guided and informed by spiritual, ethical and moral technologies, otherwise; we shall sink…Let us have the technology but like I said, let the technology be informed by ethical, moral and spiritual information,” Most Rev. Mathias Nketsia said.

The GES banned the use of mobile phones in basic and secondary schools. This is because they want the students to concentrate more on their studies. According to the Service, the uncontrolled use of mobile phones by students has a negative impact on their education since they waste valuable time on social media platforms.