Senator eyes cellphone ban in schools, calls for mandatory 'reading month'

Senator Sherwin "Win" Gatchalian is eyeing to file a bill that will totally ban cellphone use in all basic educational institutions to help children focus on their studies and return to the habit of regularly reading books.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, is also set to file a measure that will institutionalize the observance of the “National Reading Month” every November.

“Isa rin sa mga observation,  hindi lang dito sa atin ha, pati sa ibang bansa. Marami sa ating mga bata, talagang nalululong na sa paggamit ng cellphone. Even dun sa loob ng classroom,’ Gatchalian said.

“Dapat nagbabasa sila pero nanonood ng YouTube, nanonood ng Tik Tok. Pinag-aaralan ko ngayon yung i-ban na yung sa mga bata lang, yung paggamit ng cellphone sa loob ng classroom at sa loob ng school hours,” he said during Thursday’s “Kapihan sa Senado,” news forum.

(One observation, not just here in the country, is many children are glued to their cellphones. They should read instead of watching YouTube, watching TikTok. I am studying banning the children’s cellphone use inside the classroom and during school hours.)

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Only basic education students will be covered by his planned mobile phone use during school hours, Gathalian said, adding that gadgets will only be allowed when classes are already dismissed.

“Dahil nauubos talaga yung oras nila sa kakatingin sa cellphone, lalo na ngayon ang social media very accessible na,” he said.

(They’re wasting a lot of time using cellphone especially now that social media sites are very accessible)

Meanwhile, under the National Reading Month measure, children will be required to buy a book which they must read afterwards.

The objective here is to entice children to actively read again, he said.

“Lahat ng mga ahensya na may kinalaman, at mga institusyon, tumulong na maghikayat na magbasa ang bata... yung mga bookstores hinihikayat nating magbigay din ng discounts, kasi kailangan ding bumili ng libro,” Gatchalian said.

(All agencies, institutions should encourage children to read by also offering discounts.)

Senator Robin Padilla immediately backed Gatchalian’s planned measures and shared his personal difficulties in encouraging his children to read physical books.

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“Kaming mag-asawa, hirap sa anak namin lahat na magandang libro binibili namin… Ang kalaban mo laptop, tablet, cellphone. Ang pinakamaganda, ang libro pwede download sa tablet,” Padilla said.

“Ang physical na libro pag pinilit sa bata… hirap na hirap kami kasi iba ang panahon ngayon. Gadget ang kalaban natin,” he added.

(It’s also very difficult for me and my wife to encourage our child to read no matter how beautiful the book is. We are competing with the laptop, tablet, cellphone. The best move is to download the book on the tablet.)

PHILIPPINE BOOK FESTIVAL 2024

At the World Trade Center, just several kilometers from the Senate, 170 exhibitors bringing in thousands of books gathered to mark this year’s Philippine Book Festival.

The event aims to bring back the Filipinos’ penchant for reading books and revive support for literature by Filipino authors.

Dr. Virgilio Almario, former head of the Komisyon ng Wikang Filipino, welcomed this undertaking given that many Filipinos refuse to read books. He said the lack of interest in books was a proof of the “failure of the educational system.”

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“Dahil ang nangyari, ang reading ay naging compulsory lang... pagka-reading na, kailangang inuutos ng titser. Kaya paglabas ng eskwelahan, hindi na nagbabasa ang mga bata. Nagkaroon ng phobia sa reading at sa libro,” said Almario, professor emeritus of the University of the Philippines' Department of Filipino.

(What’s happening is we make reading compulsory, the teacher orders it. After school, children no longer read because of the created phobia of reading.)

 Books are also expensive, not always accessible or available, and are sometimes written in a language that is difficult to understand, he added.

Failure to address these issues will never produce a so-called “reading public,” Almario said.

“Ang pagbabasa is an important learning experience sa lahat ng tao. Pagka nagbabasa ka, marami kang magagawa sa mundo. Kahit wala kang pera, makikita mo ang mundo sa pamamagitan ng pagbabasa,” the said.

(When you read, you can do many things in the world even if you don’t have money)

“Kailangan mo ng literacy sa lahat ng bagay.”

(You have to be literate for everything.)

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Senate President Pro Tempore Loren Legarda urged the Department of Education to fill school libraries and library hubs with books that could be accessed easily by children.

"All students and young people deserve the same opportunity to discover new worlds, broaden their horizons, and increase curiosity through literature... Let us not underestimate the value of promoting Filipino content in our libraries," Legarda said in her keynote address at the event. 

"We should creatively integrate arts and culture in our textbooks for Filipino, English, Science, and Mathematic... we can hit two birds with one stone, as they say, so why not use texts from our history as we drill students on subject-verb agreement?" she added. 

BOOK LOVERS, YOUNG AUTHOR JERICO SILVERS

Writer-publisher Jerico Silvers, who attended the event, chose the issue of mental health to reach out to readers, mostly the youth.

Silvers has written 7 books and carries other writers in his publishing house.

He urged the public to read books over blogs or vlogs.

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“Yung laman nya (mga libro) mas pinag-aralan kumpara sa mga nakikita natin online. Saka ang dami nang fake news kumbaga, noise sa social media. Sa libro pinag-aralan yan ng mga eksperto ng mga artists... doon ka mas makakakita ng malalim na pag-intindi sa sining,” Silvers said.

(Books are written by experts, compared to those that we see online. There is so much fake news today and the noise in social media is too much.)

Hundreds of book enthusiasts trooped to the Philippine Book Festival’s opening on Monday.

Rio Vega Milana, a legal assistant in Makati City, went to the book fest to buy the two books by his writer-uncle, Joel Vega.

Milana hopes to see many people reading books again.

“We have to support publishing houses... our writers in the Philippines like my uncle... A lot of knowledge will be gained when you’re reading books,” Milana said.

Friends KY de Dios and Ella Jarden said their yearly visit to the Book Festival would sometimes end with them buying more than 10 books.

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“Mas gusto ko po kasi yung physical book na nahahawakan. Tapos, minsan po parang remembrance ko na rin po sya sa author,” De Dios said.

(I prefer a physical book because I can touch it and it serves as the author’s remembrance to me.)

Jarden said their fellow youth should embrace reading as much as possible.

“Parang nami-miss nila yung pag-i-imagine. Kasi yung imagination for me, part s'ya ng childhood. And important po yun para ma-hone sa isang bata. Kasi minsan doon po tayo kumukuha ng morals and principles po natin. And hindi naman po lahat ng bata eh natututukan ng magulang. Meron pong mga books po talaga na makakapagbigay sa atin ng mga dapat nating gawin. It brings comfort to us,” Jarden said.

(They will miss out on imagination, which for me, is part of childhood and important in honing a child. Sometimes, we can also get our morals and principles from what we read, especially because there are children who have no parents to guide them always. It brings us comfort)

The Philippine Book Festival will run until April 28, 2024.