The National Association of School Governing Bodies (NASGB) says the SA Council for Educators (SACE) should not be using school children to monitor teachers on its behalf.
This comes after the SACE has reportedly encouraged learners to use their cellphones to film violent and wayward teachers. According to a report in City Press, the council's chief executive, Rej Brijraj, says teachers are often caught in the act through being filmed, and the council has received cellphone footage or images of insubordinate behaviour a number of times in the past.
However, NASGB general secretary Matakanye Matakanye says it is not learners' job "to be police or journalists" and they should not be tasked with monitoring teachers. "[The SACE] should come up with a structure to monitor teachers. You can't use children to do your spy work." He notes that children should attend school with only one intention and that is to learn, and "working as reporters" will distract them from the real reason they are in the classroom.
The NASGB has been rallying for more than a year to have cellphones banned in schools and says it is making great strides in its campaign.
The association believes a cellphone ban in schools will help curb disruptions in the classroom, provide more control over learners' unlimited access to harmful information, and discourage theft among learners, says Matakanye. "Children are exposed to things on their cellphone that are undesirable, such as pornographic material, being able to chat in the classroom, taking pictures and not actively paying attention to the teacher."
Cellphones have been used a number of times in the past to capture inappropriate or illegal conduct by teachers and learners. Last week, a teacher from Hyde Park High School, in Johannesburg, was suspended and arrested after reportedly sending a photograph of himself sitting naked in a bathtub to a 16-year-old pupil.
Last month, a video of a Grade 8 pupil from Glenvista High School, assaulting a teacher, went viral, prompting a disciplinary process by the Gauteng Department of Education. In 2011, two teachers from Diversity High School, in Johannesburg, were placed on precautionary suspension after two separate videos of them using corporal punishment on learners found its way to the provincial education department.
Matakanye says while attacks like these can definitely not be attributed to cellphone use, he believes stricter control of learners' cellphone use will lead to better behaviour among pupils as they will be exposed to less harmful material that renders a negative influence. "By controlling cellphones, we will control the behaviour of children and better society as a whole."
The SACE could not immediately be reached for comment this morning.
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