Parents need to take some responsibility on how their children use mobile phones.

That’s the message from Education Minister Graham Cregeen.

There is growing concern about children’s use of mobile phones, especially on social media, with incidents both in the island and further afield causing alarm.

Mr Cregeen said there was delegated responsibility to each school to decide its mobile phone use policy.

Former teacher Jason Moorhouse (Arbory, Castletown and Malew) pointed out that, as many of the mobile phones used by children had access to 4G networks, it was not possible for schools to have full control of internet access by imposing restrictions on the wi-fi network.

Mr Cregeen said: ’I think we are straying into the parental responsibility around here as well. With the 4G network, the parents will no doubt be paying for these devices and for their usage and there is parental responsibility with that as well.’

Under proposals contained within the draft Education Bill, currently out for consultation, head teachers would have a mandate to call in the police if they suspect social media abuse is being aimed at pupils or staff byanother pupil or their relatives.

But at present there is no specific law dealing with social media use in schools.

The minister told the House of Keys on Tuesday: ’A number of schools have implemented new policies with regard to the use of mobile phones with the permission of staff.’

Potential benefits identified included a reduction in classroom disruption and restricted access to social media, but that was balanced against a possible reduction of opportunities to teach technology and use communications.

Mr Cregeen added: ’Anecdotally, some teachers have reported greater engagement between students and between students and staff in informal environments as a result of such policies, but also, with regret, a lack of access to such powerful learning tools.’

Explaining why the policy on mobile phone use was delegated to schools, Mr Cregeen said: ’The schools know their students and it is entirely up to them to come forward with these policies.

’The teachers are there with the students and hopefully they know their students.’