AS the debate heats up about whether cellular phones should be banned in Jamaican schools, president of the Jamaica Association of Principals of Secondary Schools (JAPSS), Nadine Molloy, says the decision should be tailored to fit the problems facing individual institutions.

Speaking with the Sunday Observer in a recent interview, Molloy also indicated that the move should be left up to the administrators and stakeholders of these institutions, even as she emphasised that greater attention should be paid to the rapidly expanding cellular phone culture that Jamaican youths have adopted.

“I strongly believe that the decision should be school-specific. I also think it should be left to the school administrators whether they will ban the phones or decide how and when cellphones are to be used,” Molloy told the Sunday Observer.

“At the same time, we have to realise that we are in an age of technology and communication is key but the question of responsibility comes into play. Also, these children are minors and we need to protect them.”

The debate comes on the heel of a recent call by members of Jamaica’s education sector to ban cellular phones in schools, following recent attacks on students by robbers. The case of 14-year-old Percival Crewe from St James, who was recently stabbed to death for his phone while on his way home, is still fresh in the minds of Jamaicans.

Lenoval Morle, principal of Albion Primary and Junior High, the institution Crewe attended, said he will be writing to the education ministry in support of a ban on cellphones in Jamaican schools.

“Our country needs to take strong measures to protect our children,” Morle told the Sunday Observer recently. “Telephone and school are not compatible and there too many people who are not prepared to speak adequately about the matter.” He described the repeated attacks on schoolchildren for their cellphones as a national problem that should be urgently addressed.

“[Crewe’s] death is not an isolated problem. It is widespread,” the principal said, highlighting, too, that the expensive phones that some students carry around make them easy prey for criminals.

On this matter, Molloy said it is up to the students in possession of cellphones to be extra vigilant.

“Students have to know that when they are in the public domain, they have to secure their property. Maybe what we also need to be talking about is the type of cellphones that students should be allowed to carry to school,” Molloy told the Sunday Observer.

Principal of Clarendon College, David Wilson says there are numerous issues to take into account before a decision about banning can be finalised.

“We support the position that students are not to have the cellphones on the school premises but unless you go looking for these phones, you won’t be able to find them,” he said. “Also, students give all sorts of reasons why they need to carry them to school. Like in the rural areas where transportation is a problem, they will tell you they need to contact their parents. They will give you all sorts of reasons.”

Molloy, meanwhile emphasises, that the issue of parenting has a lot to do with the issues at hand.

“The whole matter goes back to parenting because many children have cellphones and their parents do not know about it. I am also concerned that some parents are supporting the purchase of very expensive cellphones for their children instead of ensuring that their children have all their textbooks for classes,” said Molloy.

But several parents believe that banning cellphones in school could do more harm than good in the long run.

“With all the children going missing these days, I make sure that my daughter have her phone with her at all times so that I can reach her or she can reach me. Time too serious inna Jamaica now,” said Marlene Pinnock, whose 14-year-old daughter attends a prominent high school in the Corporate Area.

“If them ban cellphone in schools, it will cause a lot of problems because that’s how parents and them pickney keep in touch in case of emergency and schools are not really co-operative when it comes to phone call.”

Courtney Williams, a father of three, said he has purchased cellphones for his children because that is the only way to communicate with them when he is away on business.

“Well, technology change nowadays and everybody using cellular phone so my pickney them have to have. But it is up to them to keep the phone safe. That’s all I can do,” Williams told the Sunday Observer.

“My son has a cellphone but I tell him not to use it during class time only when school is dismissed. If more children do that and co-operate with the schools then there shouldn’t be a problem,” said another parent who declined to give her name. “Some of the students tend to love show off their phones and that’s why they get robbed. They need to be more careful.”

In the meantime, Education Minister Andrew Holness recently broke his silence on the matter, saying his ministry will be drafting policies in a bid to address the issue. He said that while there are no plans to completely ban cellphones from schools, new restrictions will be implemented as policies towards safety in schools.