Phone pouch plan is ‘20 years too late’, says Cork school principal

There are “a million things” schools need more than phone pouches, a Cork principal has said, while another has expressed disappointment that they will not be fully reimbursed for an €8k investment in the pouches last year under the scheme announced yesterday.

Education minister Helen McEntee announced national guidance on mobile phones, stating that primary schools are required to implement a policy banning them, while post-primary schools must implement a policy to restrict their use.

The post-primary school policy is to be supported by ringfenced funding.

“This initiative empowers school communities to lead on the issue, backed by €9m in funding to allow post-primary schools to use the phone storage solution that works best for their school community,” she said.

Post-primary schools choosing to implement a phone storage solution — such as pouches or lock boxes — can apply for funding under the free education scheme.

Distraction

Aaron Wolfe, the principal of Coláiste Éamann Rís, told The Echo: “This is a distraction from the actual problems existing in education or for young people in general.

“We’ll take the money when it’s offered, but there’s a million things schools need more than phone boxes.

“Smaller class sizes, fixing the teacher shortage, paying teacher trainees so the profession is more attractive, administrative aids for principals so they’re not bogged down with health and safety rather than focusing on teaching and learning.

“Schools have this problem sorted themselves, we already have mobile phone policies — mobile phones have been around a long time, so this is 20 years too late.

“Phones are banned in our school, but there’s a trust element to it.

“We’ve heard from schools that have these boxes that a child will put a dummy phone into the box and keep their real one — one school had a load of phones left in the box over the weekend when the students went home.

“That’s the nature of teenagers, they’ll find a way around it.”

St Peter’s Community School in Passage West purchased phone pouches and unlocking systems for the school’s entrances last year.

The school’s principal, Tony Fitzpatrick, previously told The Echo that there were huge benefits in doing so for the school community.

Disappointing

He said that this latest guidance was disappointing, as they had invested around €8,000, and now “the circular from the department does not seem to provide for the reimbursement for schools who were proactive by using school funds to purchase phone pouches/lock away boxes prior to this year”.

“I hope this is an oversight and this will be rectified, as schools must not be punished for being proactive in the area of student wellbeing,” he said.

“Currently, the circular states that ‘schools that have already implemented such solutions will, in addition, indicate the number of students for which funding for replacements will be needed, up to a maximum of 20% of enrolment’.

“It defies logic to punish schools financially who have been proactive in an area the Government has flagged as a key area of concern,” he said.

Policy

The principal of Kinsale Community School, Fergal McCarthy, said it was a positive that the policy allows schools to develop their own policy for restricting phone use.

He told The Echo: “The use of phones in school is a problem, the distraction they create but also in terms of unkind behaviour and bullying — excluding people form a group, posting of images.

“I’m really pleased that every school will get to make their own decision, and that the minister has listened to the response of stakeholders from the initial announcement, but also that they’ve identified phones as a significant problem that the 21st-century child has.”

In a statement sent to The Echo from the Department of Education, a spokesperson said: “Overall, €12bn was allocated to the Department of Education and Youth in Budget 2025, and this is being used to address a wide range of issues affecting students, parents, and education staff. Of this €12bn allocation, 0.08% is directed towards tackling mobile phone use.”