Controversy over the Use of Cell Phones in Zimbabwean Schools

Abstract

The Minister of Primary and Secondary Education Minister announced that school children should be allowed to use cell phones since these devices are necessary in this era of technological advancement. It is after reading this article from the Herald of 19 March 2015 that the researchers were prompted to carry out this study to ascertain the necessity of these devices in schools. The stratified random sampling was used to select students for the study. Secondary students from both rural and urban settings were sampled. Ten students from the rural and ten from the urban areas were selected. Purposive sampling was adopted to select ten teachers and ten parents for this study. Varying sentiments were obtained from all research participants over the use of cell phones in schools. Some respondents felt that since we are in the era of technology students should be allowed to use their cell phones at schools while others were totally against it. They felt that student's attention will be diverted to social issues at the expense of the core business of learning. The fact that no one will be there to monitor the use of these gadgets made some to suggest that students should at all costs not take their cell phones to school. The researchers recommended that students should be allowed to take their cell phones to school so that they will be in a position to research. However they further suggest that there ought to be strict measures to ensure that they are used to benefit the students educationally.