Proprietress raises alarm over students’ excessive use of smart phones

Premature conduct of external examination, mingling with smart phones and social media platforms by students have been described as distractions in imparting knowledge among children of primary and secondary schools.

One of the proprietors of Al’Azhar school, Professor Aisha, made the assertion at an Annual General Meeting (AGM) held at the school’s premises along Rijiyar Zaki, Gwarzo road Kano.

Professor Aisha said children tended to lose focus on their studies whenever they were exposed to social media and or when they sat for any external examination prematurely.

She lamented that many schools had made it a tradition to allow their students to take external examination prematurely, noting that “even if a child is in JS1 they will allow him to sit for external examination despite the fact that doing so is illegal.

 “Some parents register their children for external examination in SS1 or SS2. This encourages examination malpractice which is currently destroying our educational system. Once students know that they will be provided with answers in the examination, they will certainly stop reading,” she said.

She added that the school had noticed that over the years, phone, social media, make-ups, and excessive watching of television constitute a serious distraction to pupils and students in the school.

She called on parents to, as a matter of urgency, help advance the course of academic and moral excellence in their children by avoiding all those means of distractions to children’s education.

During the meeting, the school’s PTA distributed some prizes to some students who emerged as winners in an essay competition organised by the association.