Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday, April 25 said he is keen on filing a measure that would ban the use of cellular phones and other gadgets during classes.

Gatchalian, chairman of the Senate Committee on Basic Education, said he would propose the implementation of such policy at the basic education and high school.

The senator said this is to boost learners’ interest in reading, which he, and other education experts has observed is already dwindling due to the internet and proliferation of social media activities.

“I plan to push for two things, one is to push for the bill declaring the month of March as National Reading Month, to encourage the youth to read and buy books and for all institutions and agencies to help in motivating the youth to read,” Gatchalian said in a press briefing at the Kapihan sa Senado.

“And second, that is to ban the use of cellphones and other gadgets inside the classrooms,” he said.

“Because many of our young people are addicted the use of cellphones that they even use it inside the classrooms and within school hours,” he pointed out.

“They waste the time looking at their cellphones, and their focus trained on social media,” he lamented.

Gatchalian earlier filed Senate Bill No. 475, seeking to declare the month of November of every year as National Reading Month, institutionalizing the celebration in order to “develop a reading culture to help arrest the persistently low learner outcomes in basic education as shown in the results of the latest international standardized assessments” particularly on reading.

“The 2018 PISA Results where the average score of 15-year-old Filipino students in Reading was 340 points - the lowest, together with the Dominican Republic, among the 79 participating countries,” the senator stated in the explanatory note of his bill.

“The Philippines’ score in Reading was significantly lower than the OECD average of 487 points. Over 80 percent of students in the Philippines did not reach a minimum level of proficiency in Reading - one of the largest shares of low performers among all PISA-participating countries and economies,” he pointed out.

Under the bill, Gatchalian said the Department of Education (DepEd) shall be the lead agency tasked to adopt policies and formulate strategic initiatives that would foster reading not only for information and entertainment, but also for equipping learners with knowledge, skills and character.

“It is my fervent hope that this legislation will contribute in developing and inculcating a reading culture in every learner, and I earnestly seek the support of this Congress for its immediate passage,” he stressed.