Eight out of 10 Gyeonggi Province residents believe measures to collect and store smartphones in schools are necessary, a survey has found.
The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education released the results Wednesday of an opinion poll of 1,000 residents conducted to advance its "Phone-Free School" policy.
According to the survey, 77.3% of respondents said measures to collect and store smartphones on campus were necessary to protect students' right to learn. Only 18.5% said such measures were unnecessary.
Support was particularly high among parents, at 84.0%, and among married respondents, at 83.7%. Households with children showed greater agreement on the need for the policy. As for the effectiveness of the existing school-autonomy approach, 52.5% responded that it was "not effective."
Regarding the method of regulation, a high proportion preferred an institutional, blanket regulation. Of the respondents, 67.7% chose blanket regulation, far ahead of individual school discretion at 24.8%. Among parents and respondents with children, 73.7% each preferred blanket regulation.
Expectations for the policy's effectiveness were also high. Of the respondents, 70.2% said the Phone-Free School policy would be effective. The most cited expected benefit was smoother class progress and protection of teachers' authority at 27.6%, followed by improved academic focus at 24.6% and better smartphone usage habits at 18.9%.
However, concerns were also raised. Concerns about student backlash and non-compliance with rules were the most common at 34.7%, while 23.6% cited difficulty in reaching students during emergencies.
As for the implementation method, submitting smartphones upon arrival and retrieving them at dismissal was the most popular at 51.6%. For the school levels to be covered, all elementary, middle and high schools was the most common at 33.1%. For the timing of introduction, immediate implementation ranked first at 43.2%.
The survey was conducted from June 27 to 29 among 1,000 men and women aged 18 and older residing in Gyeonggi Province, using online and mobile web methods. The margin of error was ±3.1 percentage points at a 95% confidence level.
"Through sufficient consensus among students, parents and school staff, we will take the first step toward restoring schools' educational capacity," Gyeonggi Provincial Superintendent of Education Ahn Min-seok said.
