PUTRAJAYA: Students will be allowed to bring mobile phones and IT gadgets to school from next year after rules and regulations under the Education Act 1996 are amended.
Deputy Education Minister Datuk Dr Wee Ka Siong said the move was in line with the implementation of the virtual teaching and learning programme, dubbed “1Bestari” which offers free WiFi.
“We want to provide a virtual learning environment so that students can use their gadgets to learn.
“The world is totally different now.
“This is a trend. We can't stop it,” he said after chairing the student discipline committee meeting here yesterday.
Currently, students are not allowed to bring mobile phones to school.
However, many parents have expressed their disagreement as they wish to communicate with their children after school.
Dr Wee also invited the public to give their views via the Education Ministry's official Twitter account @1KemPelajaran.
He said the draft of the amendment would be submitted to the Attorney-General's Chambers within a week and that “stringent” guidelines on the use of electronic gadgets in school would be put in place.
“The guidelines will spell out how and when the students can use the gadgets,” he said.
Meanwhile, according to the ministry, 47,421 students were involved in disciplinary cases from January to June this year compared to 61,437 students during the same period last year.
The main cases included crime, porn, truancy, bullying and smoking.
Truancy was the main disciplinary problem, with 8,361 students playing truant from January to June this year.
Dr Wee said the police and Rela have begun to patrol schools located in areas which have been identified as crime hotspots.
This involves 537 day schools and 71 international schools.
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