To whom should a phone confiscated from students be returned?

Question

When students use their phones during class, I take their phones away and hand them over to the school administration.

The school administration will return the phones to the students. No measures will be taken for students playing with phones during lessons. What solution can you offer to this situation?

Response

Clause 7 of the Regulation on the Procedure for Using Mobile Phones in Educational Institutions, approved in the Appendix to the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers dated May 21, 2012, No. 139, stipulates that students must turn off their phones, put their phones in their briefcases, bags, etc., before the start of training sessions and events held in educational institutions (formations, educational hours, holidays, sports events, etc.).

Also, according to paragraph 9 of the "Improved Model Rules of Ethical Conduct of a General Secondary Educational Institution," approved in Appendix 1 to Order No. 282 of the Minister of Preschool and School Education dated August 31, 2023, all teachers, including class teachers, personally monitor compliance with the rules for using mobile phones by students.

In this case, in the presence of the subject teacher, class teacher, deputy director, psychologist (inspector-psychologist), the student's phone (smartphone, tablet and other devices) is confiscated, and the school director, as well as the student's parents or other legal representatives, are notified about the situation.

Who is entitled to receive a mobile phone from a student?

According to paragraph 14 of the Regulation "On the Procedure for Using Mobile Phones in Educational Institutions," any pedagogical worker of an educational institution has the right to confiscate a phone from a student.

Any violation of these requirements is discussed by a commission created in the educational institution, headed by the director, with the participation of the class teacher, the student's parents (persons replacing them), as well as at a parent meeting.

Control over compliance with the requirements of the Regulation is carried out by the director of the educational institution and his deputies.

To whom should a phone confiscated from students be returned?

In accordance with paragraph 14 of the Regulation, any pedagogical worker must draw up a notification about the violation of the established requirements by students, which, together with the telephone, must be handed over to the director of the educational institution or his deputy, with the condition of subsequently transferring it to parents (persons replacing them).

That is, the phones confiscated from students should be returned not to them, but to their parents with a warning.

In the above situation, the director or his deputies are considered to have grossly violated the requirements of the Regulation, approved by the Resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers No. 139 of May 21, 2012.

Therefore, it is recommended to discuss this issue at the school's pedagogical council or file a complaint against the school administration to the regional department of preschool and school education.