The parents were the ones who promoted the idea. And if in the colonies of March the children do not carry their mobile phones?, the families of 2nd ESO proposed last year at the La Ribera institute. So they did. Despite the initial protests of the 13 and 14-year-old students, the three-day coexistence experience in Planoles was gratifying, more than expected: "I was angry, but then I forgot my mobile phone," Álex recalled yesterday.
This initiative was the appetizer of what has happened this September in the Montcada i Reixac center, with almost 350 students and 42 teachers, which has been declared a "mobile-free center" after a debate process in the cloister, the ampa , the school council and the inspection. "We believe that with this measure we protect students and improve coexistence," says Pep Porca, director of the center.
Bad practices are avoided. Those conflicts between adolescents that they want to resolve impulsively, at the blow of insults on social networks. Now an eventual response in networks may occur but it must be postponed after school, which more often than not will dampen the virulence. Or the conflict will be expressed in the playground, physically or out loud, which gives the opportunity to resolve and dissolve.
Photos and recordings uploaded without consent. Robberies and threats, which also exist. However, what there is the most is the indolent attitude in the half hour in the patio, boys with their heads bowed and exercising only their fingers.
"And now, what shall we do? We have a small yard, we can't always play ball. We will have to talk”, affirm, not without some consternation, the students Luis, Álex and Pol.
Óscar, Luis's father, smiles: "This talk seems strange to them." Parents are happy with the decision, except for some who ask their children to send them a message every morning confirming that they have arrived safely. Now they will have to do it before entering the school, turn off the mobile, put it in the backpack.
“They have told us that they will take it from us if they see it and the parents will have to come and pick it up. The second time, they will send us home to reflect," explained some 1st-year students who are new to La Ribera and who, as soon as their teacher, in yesterday's information session, warned them of the new rule, they quietly slipped their mobile phones from his hand to the backpack.
Amina, Ana, Henar and Lucía are less enthusiastic about the idea and less optimistic about its result. "There will be more fights, the boys will get bored and they will get upset and it will end badly," they predict. They do not know that the center has adapted the patio, will open the library and the music room during recess to offer alternative activities.
More and more centers are hanging the “mobile free center” sign. Others consider that the adolescent's freedom must be respected, trusted, and encouraged to be responsible for it. Educate in its use and avoid abuse, with mobiles within the center. This is the case of the Minister of Education, Anna Simó, who spoke yesterday in RAC1 on the subject: "I am not in favor of prohibiting but of making students and families understand the importance of the proper use of mobile phones". However, she showed respect for the autonomy of centers for those who prohibit it.
Unesco, which published a statement in July warning about the use of technology in schools, stressed the importance of it always being for the benefit of learning and as a support for the teacher. If it's disruptive and doesn't serve a pedagogical goal, it's better to do without technology.
"We can't use it as a teaching tool because not everyone has a phone and that's why we use computers," Porca said. In 3rd and 4th years they have laptops and those in 1st and 2nd years go to the computer room (the devices promised in the pandemic did not reach this center of maximum complexity for these courses). Now by having to "speak", the director considers, social skills will improve, a competence that is also educated.
At the Arnau Cadell institute, located in Sant Cugat del Vallès, its students have been on a mobile diet for three years. "The first year was hard, but now it is no longer an issue," its director, Miquel Rocasalbas, said yesterday.
The center, with 700 students and 73 teachers, breathes tranquility. In the courtyard they play sports, chess or table tennis, an activity that has become popular to the point that the students, in the surveys carried out by the center, respond that even if their mobile phones returned they would stop hitting the shovel.
"We already had computers, so the benefits that it could provide us from the pedagogical perspective were few." In return, there were more classroom distractions and confiscation management took precious teacher time. It generated discomfort, at times, resistance to giving the teacher the phone, expulsion sanctions... "It was easier to look the other way than to make this unpopular decision, but we opted for it."
The dynamic, he says, is very positive. Sporadic sanctions, hardly any recidivism. The families are happy, and they no longer have "zombies" in the yard but rather active students. Now we need to transfer the example to families.
