Hello! calling all parents

It is disheartening to observe that over 99 percent of our school-going children misuse mobile phones. This is quite evident from the conversation that we often hear at bus stands, railway stations and other places.

It seems that the mobile phones have become part and parcel of the lives of school-goers. Many parents who are unaware of the destruction caused to their children by mobile phones, argue that their children are allowed to use them to trace their whereabouts due to security concerns during their absence from home.

This is only one side of the story. Many of today's parents have some peculiar complex to exhibit their social or family status by allowing their children to use mobile phones. I am personally aware of a father of a middle-class family who had to purchase a new mobile phone for his teenage daughter attending a leading girls' school after she had said that she couldn't move about with her classmates without a mobile phone since all of them have mobile phones.

Unfortunately, this mania has now infiltrated rural schools as well. I saw a teenage schoolgirl loitering at a bus stand with her mobile, speaking for over half an hour until her Romeo arrived on his mo-bike and whisked her away perhaps to a place of privacy.

Again there is an instance where a teacher of a leading boys' school had apprehended some pupils while using their mobiles watching pornography and mini blue films. Why are parents not giving serious thought to these incidents?

Parents have to be more concerned about the behaviour and activities of their school-going children so as to ensure they are not led astray by the misuse of mobiles.

By Don Sarath Abeysekera, Bandarawela