Several schools across the state have been affacted by the programme of disconnection for unpaid bills recently carried out by LIME. We have since learnt that the unpaid bills had nothing to do with the government’s lack of resources or inability to pay. Instead, it is a question of poor mangement and abuse.

The abuse of the phone service in government departments and agencies including school is rampant! That is the conventional view. In the case of schools we must accept the fact that phone bills are high due partly or wholly to abuse by teachers. Should we sit back and accept this view?

Pause for a moment and consider the following points:

1. Since about 2005 every single teacher is in possession of one or two or even three mobile phones.
2. The preferred mobile phone or similar device for your average teacher is a smartphone (BlackBerry, iPhone etc).
3. The preferred modes of communication is texting or “bbming”, or chatting on MSN and Yahoo Messenger.  Note: The phone is hardly ever used for “talking”.
4. It is easier and safer to gossip with a colleague, friends and family using a mobile handset instead of using the school phone which is invariably an old time fixed line handset situated in a public place.
5. Most, if not all fixed lines in schools are on a the “flat fee” plan and are generally barred from making calls to mobile phones and overseas numbers.

In this context, it is difficult to figure out why and how a teacher would abuse a school phone. The old land line is simply no longer the preferred means of communicating. This is the 21st century; it is the age of FB and Twitter! Why would any teacher go into the office or staff room and spend hours on the school phone?

Call me daft! But, it just does not make any sense to me!