Patras: First school suspension for using smartphone. Parents are outraged

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A student at a school in Patras who used a mobile phone during class has been suspended from school for a day, according to a recent report the adopted law O ban on mobile phones in schools.

The incident took place at a school in Magoula (Kastritsi, Rio district), and the decision to expel was taken by the school principal, local website gnomip.gr reports. The child's parents speak of excessive strictness and abusive behavior by the principal.

The complaint filed by the student's parents stated the following: “We believe that the actions of the school's management are, at the very least, unfortunate, and the actions of the entire educational community in relation to this incident are inadequate.”

Parents' Questions

At the same time, parents are asked to answer the following questions:

• “In which lesson on Monday 16-09-2024 was a student “caught” using a mobile phone in class?
• Does the teacher who was teaching the lesson at the time have a personal opinion? Who reported the incident to the administration and the teachers' union?
• Did the school administration call the parents, and what recommendations were given to the student and parents?
• How was the mobile phone used during the lesson? A phone call, a video recording, possibly video and audio, or none of the above?
• What guidance has been given since the beginning of the year and has it communicated to the school community that outright suspensions will be made without guidance, admonition or prior notice to parents?
• Has the school administration complied with any of the requirements that it is required to comply with under the laws and circulars and its responsibilities in this incident?”

What the high school administration says

Meanwhile, the County Board of Secondary Education summoned school board members on Tuesday and principals on Wednesday to “remind” them of their responsibilities regarding the use of mobile phones in school and the proper implementation of regulations that would otherwise lead teachers and student-parents to extreme behavior.

The management makes it clear that the goal is to “exclude” the use of mobile phones in lessons based on the pedagogical process and the correct application of the new legislative framework, which provides for: initially a reprimand, a warning and informing parents, and then, in the event of ignoring the obligation to comply with the rules, punishment up to and including expulsion of the student.

As the Director of the Achaia Secondary Education Department, Eugenia Pierri, stated in the same source: “The legislation must be implemented in stages, based on the steps listed, so that the implementation of the law does not become detrimental to the school community. The main pedagogical measures are dialogue and communication with students so that they understand the need and that the law does not have to be followed, neither a reprimand nor anything else. Our goal is to prevent expulsion, and we will prevent it when we work and communicate with our students and help them understand the seriousness of this issue.”

It is worth noting that the incident was reported to Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who mentioned the incident to the media during his latest meeting with the President of the Republic Katerina Sakellaropoulou at the presidential palace.

According to Kyriakos Mitsotakis: “I think it's very important that the government commits to banning mobile phones during school hours. From the moment a child goes to school until they leave. When we say 'mobile phone in bag', “We mean exactly that. It's not just an expectation, and it's certainly not a question of punishment. Today I saw the first suspension.”

Pilot project of special boxes

He further added that “The question is that everyone – teachers, lecturers, parents and the children themselves – understand that this helps the learning process.” Kyriakos Mitsotakis stressed that this is why the government wants parents' committees to become allies in this matter. “I have discussed with the Minister of Education and I am very positive about the fact that if there are such requests from parent committees, then at the first stage, as a pilot project, it will be possible to install lockers in a certain number of schools so that children can lock their phones when they go to school and take them away when they leave. But it is important that these measures are not imposed from the top down, but are responded to by the school community itself.”– the Prime Minister concluded.

This is how AI sees the situation

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