Elo, Datuk, handphones in school is a BAD idea, ok?

I read doc’s blog this morning and catch no ball. I only heard the news over TV3 tonight and learnt that the Ministry of Education is going to allow handphones in school. WTF?

First, without arguments, handphones for primary school-going kids, i.e. those below 12 years is absolutely a very dumb idea. Parents who allow their below 12 years old kids to own handphone ought to sit down and listen to me nag in a 4′ x 4′ windowless room for hours till they go siao. In the first place, these little children are supposed to be under your care. You are supposed to see that she/he goes to school safely, stay there and you are supposed to pick/arrange for her/him back home safely. No further buts, ok? I SAID NO MORE ARGUMENTS.

Never mind that a certain Datuk of the highest ranking officer in charge of the education of Malaysia blatantly show off her 12 years old little girl garbed in Guess and jabbing away with her equally rich friends on their super canggih handphones, which eventually got plastered over all the front pages of the major newspapers when they got their UPSR results. I know ak, I am suppose to punctuate my sentences to make sense but who cares ‘cos I am damn tiu-ed with the lack of thoughtfulness from the Datuk himself. Stop living in your mighty golden tower and get down to the bendang and sawah to feel for the less fortunate kids.

Now, secondary school kids are those in the age group of 13 years old to 17 years old. Any stupid, moronic, dumb-ass parents should know by now that ALL teenagers have to chat, sms, sending emoticons, MMS and whatever communication technology they can afford if you allow them.

There is nothing wrong, of course. My kids do that all the time. It is perfectly alright. All I need is to give an icy-cold warning that the handphone is going into the bowl of curry fish head if the KNNCCB polyphonic ringtones kept going off everytime I am about to put a tablespoon of rice into my mouth. That is how much SMS-es a teenager has.

School hours is only a mere 7.30 am – 2.30 pm max. Those hours are best left without handphones. Who needs a handphone? By 13 years old, any gong kia also know how to use the public phone if they need to urgently call their mothers. Any budak donggoi also know how to ask for help from the teacher if they seriously need to call home or something. If a kid shitted in his pants, he can probably get his teacher to call home to cart him back.

The only two parties who probably pushed for handphones to be allowed in school are :

1) The kids themselves;

2) Who else but the service provider and handphone makers who see a lot of $$$ when they feed the kiasu parents desires to outdo each other kids by supplying the latest 3G.

3) Plus those guilty parents who think they can make up for their lack of time and attention for their children by supplying their kids with them.

I really appreciate the headmaster and teachers of Sek. Men. St. Xavier for their very strict, no handphones rules. Once, my son has gotten his handphone confiscated for two weeks. Padan muka (to the son). Another son had his skateboard confiscated and this hot mama gotta go to the discipline teacher to hiao-hiao to get it back.

“Aiyoh, Mr. Tan (not real surname), school holidays also you have to work? You teachers are a very hardworking lot ya?”

Mr. Tan grin-grins. “Sit down, sit down. What can I do for you, ma’;am?”

Me, “Ascherly hor, my name is 5xmom and my CCB son from Form One Lembu had done something wrong. I am here hor, to ask a small favour from you. I really hope you do not mind. *blink, blink and flutter eyelashes * It is actually (NOT MY BLOODY) my fault la, Mr. Tan. I shouldn’t have allowed him to bring the skateboard to school.”

Mr. Tan realised he had been conned, “Oooh….your sons’ stuffs AGAIN got confiscated issit?”

So, that’s why I don’t need my kids to bring handphones to school because I know theirs are going to be confiscated when their bevy of love-strucked girls crushes from Convent, Methodist and PCGHS sms lovey-dovey emoticons to them during their Add Maths, Physic, Accounts lesson. I am almost over the hill and cannot afford to continue blink-blink, flutter eye-lashes at the teachers. Their headmaster is a missionary man who doesn’t take that kind of shit from silais like me. Headmaster will probably throw a cross at me and say, “Die, devil, die, leave this poor woman alone, why is her eyes blinking like that!”

So, what say you? Do you agree that the Ministry of Education should send a circular to all schools to allow their students to bring handphones to school? (My children’s secondary school doesn’t allow them now.)

43 thoughts on “Elo, Datuk, handphones in school is a BAD idea, ok?

  1. HAHAHAH!! Yea, I must disagree on the proposal. Primary school kids shouldnt be allowed to bring handphones to school. Teach them how to use a goddamn public phone la, pls.

  2. I for one strongly disagree to allow mobile phones in classes. Its going to be distracting for the kids i.e sms’ing’ their friends during lessons, or playing games etc.
    Sometimes I can’t understand my kid either. Why the eff would she want to waste time replying sms when she could easily just call the other party, chat and hang up. During meal times she would have 1 hand on the spoon, the other on the phone and totally ignoring our conversation.
    Finally, I set the ground rules, that if I ever see her messaging again during meals, her phone is going to end up in several pieces.

  3. For me, I half agree. Having a handphone is not a all bad thing actually. It is of course up to the school to enforce certain restriction on its usage… eg. You can bring your phone, but you have to put it in silent mode or off it during class.

    Public phones in school are 90% vandalized. Sometimes if anything urgent arises, at least the poor kid can call their parents.

    Regarding the phone bills, buy those prepaid reload cards for them lar!! Set a limit like RM30 a month and do not top up for them should they finish early. (they can still receive calls but not make them only what!!)

    OK, the next step for the government is the issue of PDAs… lol

  4. The given rules on h/p by the govt highlighted in the Star and other papers already cover this issue adequately. Phones off during classes. SMS is dirt cheap on prepaid, compared to making a phone call. I bet if you solely depend on h/p because the house has no line phone, using prepaid is a surefire way to rack up the reload bills due to high call rates. SMS is more “private and confidential”. That makes it a popular thing, compared to calling. The key here is to make sure that the students use the phone RESPONSIBLY..not so much as a showoff tool. I did a number of business deals while I was in form 5, (ok lah, financial situation not that good) and relied on handphones..how would people be able to drop a confirmation note early in the day via sms to the public phone..lolz!

  5. If your handphone got stolen by a jealous classmate don’t come crying to your mommy, okay?

    Siao leh, let students bring handphones. Impracticle at times lar I think, go PE lessons how? Throw all of the students’ handphones at the teacher? Leave it locked in a safety deposit box?

    Handphones can be distracting, a nuisance, irritating, a bling-bling item. If students want the option to make phone calls, better equip handphones to teacher instead.

  6. Very much like the schools here .. i must say..! school and children here got no discipline at all..!! they dye their hair.. they pierce their noses.. and in various different places.. and they wear whatever they want.
    I’ve seen a teenager dressed so sexy..and so thin during winter.. i wonder .. what their parents are thinking.. ?? or what the hell they are thinking.
    Nope i donch agree that children who are in school.. especially so young should have handphones in school..! how the hell are they gonna concentrate on school and the teachings..??

  7. I don’t think hand phone is a good idea for kids especially in primary schools. First, it will create peer pressure to those who doesn’t own one. Second, it may get stolen byb jelous friend. Third, you can set a limit to the number of phone callls/smses, but i would prefer do not have to monitor or control anty of this. Lasly, even though at times it will be useful especially if you are late in picking up your child, at laest you are able to reach him and ask him to stay put. However, there is only one or two benefits but hundreds of disadvantages, so , “keep off hand phones from school!”.

  8. Bad idea.
    bcos bad guys will be lurking around school compounds to steal handphones while students went off to the padang for pendidikan jasmani.
    Or
    bad guys will be lurking around school compounds and snetch canggih hp’s from 10 year olds. easy peasy job la!!!

  9. The idea of bringing a handphone is nice but if you weight in the pros and cons. I am pretty much leaning towards the no handphones policy.

    I’ve got to agree that the public phones are in lousy conditions. As fashionasia said, it’ll give even more opportunities for crime to happen.

    On the other hand, pardon for deviating from the main topic, my old highschool recently had this ban on HAIRCLIPS! Does anyone think this is even necessary? It’s only a private chinese highschool.

  10. my sister have one since primary 5, i must say that the mobile phones are a double edge sword, it is good but can lead to abuse, best of all i think its to get a post paid line, that way parents can monitor them la. you never know when you need to get in touch, thats the helpful thing about phones. cheers!

  11. My daughter’s school allows cell phones but have to be off during lessons.and preferably in their lockers.( I allow that as shes pretty responsible and doesnt chat much and as we have school closures due to bad weather and both of us travel–the phone is used for contact purposes only)
    I do not agree with her bringing her video ipod to school and if any of her toys get confiscated–to be sure I will NOT ask for it back and will NOT replace it MUAHAHAHA.. bad mum eh?? ( i have been guilty of asking the principal to confiscate her portable CD player and NO I did not ask for it back)

  12. It is annoying when students phones make noise in the class. Even I leave mine in my room during class. Ok, they don’t have lockers here but when will they learn to just switch off that thing before classes.
    If they allow kids to bring to school, also make sure they learn to use it, properly.
    Some days, I just had the idea to grab ringing phones and throw them out of the class!

  13. i agree. zero hp policy please. all of us survived without it. it’s again, some bigshot with his bigshot ideas… errrmmm..flag on pyramid..wtf? the only smart ppl r the kampung folk who found goods in the containers, consumed them (ate and smoked it) and sold the container for scrap! hahahahhahahah…. BRILLIANT!

  14. Kids just can’t be pamperred too much. Kids nowadays are just too lucky. In the olden days we don’t even have a handphone and only played with Micro Genius. Now, Ps2 la, x-box la, psp, all kids have. Even now Handphone for primary school kids? Unimaginable.

    I even heard that there is a kindergarden kids owning a handphone. Its in Indonesia. How to say? Really out of imagination.

  15. Wah, so many comments. So, in brief I would say that :

    1) The responsibilities will fall on the teachers, poor them already got so many kids, now kena deal with ‘Teacher, I lost my handphone.”

    2) In cinemas and churches, the freaking ringing tone is still going to go off despite the reminders on the screen/OHP, what more in a classroom of 40 children (from various backgrounds) in their rebellious years.

    3) Mama23beas is a lecturer in a university and she face this situation, what more with younger children?

    4) Handphones will be the status symbols and peer pressures are going to bring out more gangsterisms, thefts, extortion, bullies etc etc. Please la, the children can even tayang-tayang their box of colour pencils, mechanical pencils, what more handphones? We musn’t forget that not all the children are from perfect family background, brought up with some decent family values. There are lots of future thieves, pickpockets in the making at schools. It is a fact, but not something we want to talk about.

    5) Like Fashionasia said, it can be dangerous ‘cos young kids are easily conned and who knows, there may be snatch thieves for handphones? Abuden, we Malaysians are the kind who will wait for something bad/tragedy to happen before we implement any rules.

    6) I agree that this ruling is probably the result of some daddies in high places who are pressured by their little daughters and sons and since they are in power, they will implement rules just to suit their pampered kids.

    7) I think all school should have public phones in their own school compound whereby these can’t be vandalised. At least both my children schools have them.

    8) Like I said, parents are responsible for the whereabouts of their kids and ideally, never need to make emergency calls.

  16. absolutely agreed…h/p for primary kids are downright dumb,idiotic, moronic, imbecilic…malaysia, being the country it is, will prolly “set up a committee” and “look into/ revise the existing law”only after a tragedy occurred…e.g a 8 y.o girl got mugged and killed just outside the school compound for her latest samsung gadget.

    psst…is “mr.tan’s” real name mr. loh chee heng ah 5xmom? the moustached romeo and the entau bro paul still in SXI??

  17. Oreo – Kahkahkah, the entau Bro Paul still there but I really forgot the name of the discipline master! Too engrossed lying my way out, that’s why. LOL. Oh ya, soon we will see sms contests/votes for school children and these companies are going to make millions of ringgit.

    BTW, Helen – pre-paid is real cheap. But how does a mom denied her kid if the puppy eyes blew his/her monthly ration of RM30-RM50 within days and ask, “mom…..can I buy a RM10 ONLY to top up?” Cos you know what? Teenagers need at least RM100 per month and calling from housephone is so yesterday, it has to be from handphone. And this is only during out-of-school hours.

  18. Haiyo……
    now a days go everwhere also have to put up with inconsiderate ppl who don’t put their phones in silent mode, now it’s creeping into school pulak !
    guess this is the largest untapped telco market !

  19. Can I add? Heard news over the radio that Malaysian spend RM5 mil on sms everyday…could not believe what I heard. I’m pretty sure only a small fraction is for useful purpose. And if it is allowed in school, that figure probably double. And considering other factors that’s been discussed, I’d say no handphone in school (and in classes in universities, if it is possible), please?

  20. i can say that crime rate in school will definitely escalate when some poor lil rich kid start accusing his/her school/classmate of stealing. That’s gonna be another matter for the education minister to look into soon later on.

  21. “Die, devil, die, leave this poor woman alone, why is her eyes blinking like that!”

    AAAAAAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHA I have to type my laff because in the office I cannot laugh like that my colleagues will stare at me and think I am crazy and I will be thrown out of the building.

    Sigh.

    Kids should not have handphones in schools, or any where for that matter, especially if they are below 12. They are not ready for the responsibility, and should not be around wondering in the mall, or any other lubang, by themselves.

    Kasi ban sama dia.

  22. So what next, a 5 mins mobile phone break for each section? A retards class for pupils that use mobile phone? Another SMS addict counseling for children below 15?

    Well, it is a good idea let those rich and ignorant parents to let their children bring the h/p school. It is a WIN-WIN situation for the human gene pool. Just let them stick to the phone and let the phone iradiate their brain cell, perhaps their future generation can become smarter? If they put the phone near the KKC, then let the phone fried their fishball, and wipe off their gene pool for good. (Yupe, I am a big fan of darwin awards)

    And for the public phone vandalism, Malaysia are really in 5th world mentality. My trip to bangkok and guess what, phone vandalism almost non-existence there. But I don’t think vandalism is a good excuses for it.

  23. Ingat the good old days. The only cellphones around would be the size of bata-bata hehe….and no, the idea of grade school kids with cellphones does not appeal to me, either… (was so surprised seeing my 9 yr old cousin with a cellphone!)…I had mine when I was already in my mid 20s…

  24. Hey I’m a student and when I heard this news I LOL’d. I was thinking, yet another “brilliant” idea from MoE decided for the students.

    I see there’s no really need of bringing in handphone to school unless during certain situations. I gurantee kids anywhere will ABUSE handphones in the school once MoE had given out the ‘surat pekeliling'(official notice) to the schools to let students bring phone.

    Aih…. I really’ve no idea why MoE likes to restrict some beneficial activities and bring in the negative decision? MoE is REALLY REALLY DUMB….. so does our exams. 😛

  25. I agree that its actually a bad idea, because it will definitely be a distraction for students in the classroom, as they will be tempted to send and reply smses..because I do it during lectures…asking my friend whether they will be coming for the lecture or not…although the penalty for being caught red handed is about RM5..LOL

  26. wtf…..i have to earn my hp myself after my spm ..now those kid get them at age of 12??? wtf

  27. Hey, to all parents and adults out there if your worried so much about this then here’s what i think. Don’t let the primary school students to use them they can probably use the big bro’s or sis’s. Two if one of the phone’s in the class rings the teacher is allowed to conviscate them and they can’t get them back till the end of school.(That’s what my bro had to deal wif when he was in school.) Three, don’t let them bring camera phone’s duhhhhh!!!! Four, of the high school students are stupid enuf to show off their handphones they have to be really really stupid. Five, there in the pengawal pagar at the gate heloooooooo, and if the pengawal is sooo stupid until he will let anyone in then the school need’s better security. OK this is what i’ve come up so far cause i onli read to about like the number 23 comment until i wanted to burst out shouting at you guys. Now you adults can take into considderation of all the facts i’ve posted. GET THEM IN YOUR HEAD ALREADY!!!!!!

  28. hmmm….i’m on my way to list all d’ bad ideas about the use of handphone in school. Thanks a lot…..UM KOI SAi…i get.. a lot of ideas…BUT!!! i think it’s better for the government to NOT ALLOW the use of handphone in classroom….HALLOO…it’s so annoying when you are paying attention to lecture then your frined whisch SAT RIGHT TO THE RIGHT OF YOU are talking to her boyfriend at that time…..HAIYO!!!! …manyak leceh…. anyway not to say that i’m against the use of hp in univercity..if that’s the case…it will be so bad…………..
    NO HP IN SCHOOL!!!!!!
    NO SMS WHILE IN CLASS!!!!
    TEACHERS…..children need to be disciplined not pampered!!!!!

  29. basicly i do agree that handphones should be allowed in school.. I am 16 this year… and the reason i agree is because it’s really convienient lor.. i use it when i go tuition straight after the school ends… and if it’s rainning I dont have to look for a public phone to call * long ques..

    oh yea… thx to this blog .. now i acctually have ideas for the debating competition which is just like TOMORROW!!!!

    😀

  30. hear hear! was researching the pros and cons of using handphones in school for an assignment when i stumbled upon this post. i have a looong list of cons, but a single miserable point under “pros”. which is (pathetic) parents’ paranoia over increasing social ills, and they need to be in constant contact with their kids.

    what other pros? what kids get “sms-girlfriends” easier?

  31. Well, for my opinion, handphones should never be allowed for students since it can damage our brain if we use too often.

  32. as now im completing an asignment on this whole BIG thingy issue, its a nonono for me.. its so stupid as hp will be used as a device to show-off. it certainly increases the conviniece for parents n students(as for leisure too), it wastes tonnes of money, damaging kids fingers n brain as well eyes. hahaha..

  33. As a student, I was SHOCKED when I heard that the ministry said “yes” to handphones in school. Utterly SHOCKED. Where were their minds? Kids owning handphones is alright, but handphones in school, OUTRAGEOUS. I really think the ministry should remember the true reason there are schools and why students go there. The school is a place to study and there’s no such thing as calling home in an emergency. I totally agree with any gong kia knows how to use a public phone, schools protect their students if the ministry doesn’t know. If the ministry is so concerned about students’ safety then they should make efforts to increase safety in schools that lack it or schools that just can’t afford it.

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  35. i am 17 n going to have spm this year..n guess what…i have a debate comp. nx week with this type of tittle…n im on d government side…so…i firmly agree to bring hp 2 school…well…yes…crimes will be going up such as stealing…porn capture vid or images…but…it is actually not at the hps fault…its the students…its their responsibility…n about the poor n the rich dudes bout showing off..the school should have the rule about having the kind of types of hp…there are 2 types…the coloured,multi functional and the one with black and white…schools should set the rules to they can bring BLACK AND WHITE no camera hp to shcool only…and rules about the limits using the hp such as off it during class and students could use it only AFTER school…so…wat u guys think?

  36. if a teacher ever conviscade my fone….i will kill her/him!!
    i will start a riot!!hahaha

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