Petrina Francis, Staff Reporter

The National Parent-Teacher Association of Jamaica (NPTAJ) says students should be allowed to take cellphones to schools as it is an important tool for communication.

However, president of the association, Sylvester Anderson, agreed that cellphones should not be used in classrooms. He noted that students should keep them in their bags until the end of the school day.

Needed to be in contact

"The NPTAJ is against cellphone usage in the classroom. But if you are going to tell students not to carry the phones to school at all, then we are against that," Mr. Anderson told The Gleaner yesterday, adding that parents needed to be in contact with their children after school.

Mr. Anderson's comments followed the fatal stabbing of 14-year-old Percival Crewe, a student of Albion Primary and Junior High School in St. James, who refused to give one of his cellphones to a robber. Following the incident, Education Minister, Andrew Holness, said he supported principals who banned cellphones in schools.

Ruel Reid, principal of Jamaica College, said his school has a no-cellphone policy.

'There are issues with cellphones as students use them to communicate with outside factions and do other things which can be distracting," Mr. Reid told The Gleaner. "Added to that is the problem of criminals who target students, attacking them on their way home."

Build relationships

But Hopeton Henry, principal of Seaforth High School, St. Thomas, does not believe that cellphones should be banned. He said teachers and principals should work together and institute rules and regulations.

He also noted that another solution to the problem was for schools to build relationships with the communities.

"Because you cannot build a school successfully if you do not build a relationship with the community," Mr. Henry said.

Ardenne High School, last academic year banned cellphones following the stabbing of one of its students for his cellphone.

The Jamaica Teachers Association president, Ena Barclay, said the banning of cellphones in schools would be discussed at the association's central executive meeting later this month.

petrina.francis @gleanerjm.com