Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, the chair of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, has introduced a bill that would forbid basic education teachers and pupils from using cell phones or other electronic devices in the classroom.
According to Gatchalian, the Department of Education must create guidelines for the ban, which applies to students in both public and private schools from kindergarten to senior high school as well as teachers, under Senate Bill (SB) No. 2706, also known as the Electronic Gadget-Free Schools Act.
According to Gatchalian, although electronic gadgets and mobile devices can be powerful instruments for improving teaching and learning, they can also be distractions that have a negative effect on students' academic performance.
Gadgets’ negative effects
The senator highlighted the frequency of cyberbullying and its detrimental effects on academic achievement, particularly for students enrolled in basic education.
"First, it affects performance directly as greater use of a phone while studying is correlated with (a) greater negative impact on grades or scores. Second, it affects performance indirectly because the learners' skills and cognitive abilities needed for academic success are also negatively affected by excessive phone use," Gatchalian said.
The senator referenced research from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2022, which shows that 8 out of 10 students, who are 15 years old, said that using a smartphone during class distracted them.
A similar number of students also said that others using smartphones during class served as a distraction.
Causing a decrease of performance
The PISA data also showed that using a smartphone during class distracted students more, which is linked to a drop in performance of roughly 9.3 points in mathematics, 12.2 points in science, and 15.04 points in reading.
Gatchalian also mentioned that tougher rules prohibiting the use of cell phones in class were suggested in the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report.
SB 2706 offers some exceptions when it comes to using smartphones in class. These include exceptions related to learning, like presentations in class or activities centered around learning; exceptions related to health and well-being, like students with medical conditions who must use mobile devices and other electronic gadgets; and exceptions related to risk management, like responding to perceived threats or dangers, handling emergencies, and going on field trips or engaging in activities outside of school grounds.
