DepEd asks net cafés to turn down students during class hours

Department of Education regional director Carolino Mordeno has called on operators of Internet cafés, and even billiard halls, to ban students from patronizing their establishments during class hours so that students would be able to focus more on their lessons.

Mordeno made this statement after receiving complaints from parents that their children have been very much engrossed with Internet cafés already and would rather not attend their classes anymore.

He said the Internet could give advantages but its disadvantages have affected the well being of the students and may be one of the causes of their low academic performance in schools.

"It is good to be IT-oriented but this should be used in a proper way and will not affect the performance of the students in schools. The Internet has access also on porn sites that are very disadvantageous to children," said Mordeno.

Internet cafés should be located at least 200 meters away from a school to avoid distracting the attention of students, Mordeno said, adding that billiard hall operators should also ban students during class hours.

In a related development, Cebu City Schools superintendent Leonilo Oliva asked parents to look after their children specially when the latter are already outside the school.

"We cannot attend to all our students so we are asking the parents to help us with this problem. The public should not put all the blame on us because we are doing our part. They should also help us with these," Oliva said.

Oliva said that keeping tab of schoolchildren's activities could only be done while they are still inside the school but once they go out of the campus, no one could monitor what they are up to already.

Oliva said he is supporting Mayor Tomas Osmeña's move to prohibit minors from entering Internet cafés so that students could concentrate well on their lessons. - Jasmin R. Uy