Human Rights Commission changed its stance on "school cell phones."Attention to the discussion of the bill

[Anchor]
Amid growing concerns that teenagers are addicted to smartphones, the Human Rights Commission recently rejected a petition to block restrictions on mobile phones in schools.

On top of that, controversy over student human rights seems to be growing again as a bill has been proposed to prevent the use of mobile phones in schools.

Reporter Kim Joo-young reports.

[Reporter]
These days, more and more teenagers are pointing out that they live excessively in mobile phones.

[Kim Gun-hee / Middle school student: I used my smartphone a lot. More than four hours a day....]

According to the results of the Ministry of Science and ICT's survey, as of last year, the proportion of our adolescents at risk of dependence on smartphones exceeded 40%, which was close to twice that of adults.

Conflicts continued in the school over whether students should use mobile phones, and even the NHRC filed a complaint.

However, the National Human Rights Commission decided last month that the collection of a student's cell phone at a high school in Jeollanam-do is not considered a violation of human rights.

The Human Rights Commission has made a different decision than what it has consistently pointed out as human rights violations.

On top of that, political circles have proposed a law to restrict the use of mobile phones on campus, and the Ministry of Education is known to be in a positive position, spreading the atmosphere of banning the use of mobile phones on campus.

However, there is also a lot of concern that the level of student human rights may be retrograde to the past.

Even within the Human Rights Commission, there are voices that the right to choose should be recognized.

[Nam Kyu-sun / Standing Committee Member of the National Human Rights Commission (last August): Our government is joining the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The purpose is to give children the right to choose.

Some in the political and educational circles point out that even under the Student Human Rights Ordinance, it was limited to lunch, not full permission.

It also argues that autonomous decisions should be made through consultations between students and schools rather than unconditionally preventing them.

As the two arguments are confronting each other, the issue of allowing mobile phones in schools, which has been controversial in the past along with the introduction of student human rights ordinances, is expected to become a hot potato again.

I'm Kim Joo-young of YTN.