In order to ban students from using mobile phones, a private middle school in Zhengding County (Hebei) installed multiple mobile phone signal jammers on the roof of the school’s teaching building. Now the students can no longer use their mobile phones, but because the instrument is located on the roof and the surrounding area is very empty, surrounding residents have also been seriously disturbed when using their mobile phones. On March 25, the Shijiazhuang Radio Administration Bureau of Hebei Province ordered the school to dismantle the rooftop equipment in accordance with relevant regulations. However, the school stated that the use of mobile phones has a great negative impact on students’ normal learning, and how to effectively supervise it has become a problem.
Complaint: Cell phones frequently malfunction around the school
According to an operator in Zhengding, for a long time, the company has frequently received reports from residents in the northeastern area of Zhengding County that their mobile phones often appear intermittent when making calls. The company sent personnel to check the signal base station many times and found no problems. Therefore, it sought help from the Shijiazhuang Radio Administration Bureau to investigate the sources of radio signal interference in the area. signal jammer
On March 25, the Shijiazhuang Radio Administration Bureau sent law enforcement officers and radio monitoring vehicles to the northeastern part of Zhengding County for testing. After investigation, the staff initially detected that the signal interference was strongest at a private middle school in the northeastern area of the county. When the staff talked with residents around the school, they confirmed that the problem of mobile phone use in the area was indeed serious, but the residents did not know the reason.
Install shielding equipment on school roof
Detection by radio direction finding and positioning instruments showed that the source of interference was on the campus of this private middle school. After entering the campus, the staff discovered that all the buildings in the school were bungalows, and a yellow box-like device was installed on the roof of many of the teaching buildings. Tests with professional instruments showed that the device emitted radiation with a strong frequency, and the signals from the mobile phones carried by the staff completely disappeared. The school admitted that the device was a “mobile phone signal jammer” and that the jammer was turned on because the senior high school students were taking a mock exam that day. It is reported that the transmitting frequency of this instrument has multiple frequency bands such as 800 MHz and 1800 MHz. These frequency bands include frequency bands used by communication operators.
According to the school leaders, students’ use of mobile phones affects their studies. In order to ban the use of mobile phones, the school invested heavily in purchasing and installing “mobile phone signal jammers” and installed them on the roof. “I didn’t expect it would have an impact on the lives of surrounding residents,” the person in charge said. The instrument’s packaging clearly stated that the effective range is 30-50 meters. “How could the impact range be so large?”
According to the staff of the Radio Administration Bureau, since the installation site is on the roof and there are no surrounding buildings to block it, when the jammer is turned on, the interference range will expand.
According to reports, there are relatively strict regulations on the use of mobile phone signal blocking devices, and they can only be used in major national examinations, high-level meetings and other occasions. This private middle school also uses this kind of equipment in daily teaching, which affects the normal lives of surrounding residents. The Shijiazhuang Radio Administration Bureau ordered it to remove the mobile phone signal jammer in accordance with the law.
Supervision of students’ use of mobile phones is a problem
The person in charge of the private middle school said that the use of mobile phones has a great negative impact on students’ normal learning. The only purpose of many students using mobile phones is for entertainment, playing games, chatting online, and even looking for pornographic information. Many teachers are very worried. “The school cannot search one by one at the school gate, nor can it monitor every student 24 hours a day. There are great difficulties in monitoring mobile phones. After we purchased these devices, students’ use of mobile phones has been greatly reduced.” However, high-tech means are relied on to interfere with mobile phones. The signal was not allowed by the national radio management department, and the school expressed its helplessness.
A parent of a high school student also told reporters that for the convenience of communication, he once gave his child a mobile phone with the simplest functions, but within a few days his child asked for a high-end mobile phone. “My classmates often joked that his mobile phone could not keep up. “Era,” the parents were very angry after hearing their children’s story. Not only did they not buy new mobile phones, they even confiscated the old ones. “Mobile phones have become something for students to satisfy their vanity.”
A sophomore girl from Shijiazhuang No. 2 Middle School told this reporter that the No. 2 Middle School did not completely ban students from using mobile phones. It only stipulated that use is prohibited in the teaching building. There are no requirements outside the teaching building. Students use mobile phones voluntarily. Some parents believe that as long as their children can control themselves, there is no problem in using mobile phones, but necessary supervision is still needed.
So, how can schools effectively supervise students’ use of mobile phones? Professor Shi Guoxing from the School of Education of Hebei Normal University said in an interview with reporters that mobile phones do more harm than good to the learning of students, especially primary and secondary school students with relatively poor self-discipline, so it is necessary to restrict their use. Although the practices of this private middle school in Zhengding have affected the lives of residents outside the school and should be corrected, it is also a helpless move by the school. Since cell phones cannot be kept out of school by blocking signals, it is recommended to use more diversion methods, adopt a compromise plan, make different requirements for different students at different times, and standardize the use of students’ cell phones through the joint efforts of parents and teachers. .
United States: Opposition to the use of mobile phones on campus is strong. Currently, most schools in the United States do not allow students to use mobile phones. In Georgia, students are strictly prohibited from using mobile phones before school ends at 15:00. Once a student violates the rules, the teacher can confiscate the phone and impose disciplinary penalties on the person involved.
Finland: Selling mobile phones to teenagers is prohibited. The Finnish Market Court recently decided to prohibit Finnish wireless communication companies from directly selling mobile communication services such as mobile phone access to the Internet to teenagers. Violation of this ban will result in a fine of €100,000.
UK: The British Ministry of Education sent a letter to principals of schools in the UK, making it clear that except in emergencies, students under the age of 16 are not allowed to use mobile phones. A government research report “Mobile phones may harm children’s health” is also attached to the letter. . There is no clear evidence in the report that the radiation from mobile phones is harmful to the human body, but it is believed that because children’s nervous systems are not fully developed, their heads are smaller, their skulls are thinner and other physiological reasons, they will absorb more radiation from mobile phones, which is harmful to health. constitutes an “undetermined” hazard.
