Pupils want mobile ban teacher sacked

STUDENTS at a lycée in Paris have written a joint letter calling for a teacher to be dismissed for banning mobile phones in her class.

The final-year class at the Lycée Jean Lurçat lodged a complaint with the head teacher about their English teacher, Claudine Lespagnol, who had tried to stop pupils sending text messages during lessons.

Speaking to TF1 earlier this week, Mrs Lespagnol said the pupils also wrote directly to her, telling her to "stop making remarks every time one of us has a mobile phone in our hand, because it wastes time".

Teachers at the lycée have urged the local education authority to lodge a formal complaint against the pupils.

The school said it was trying to track down the author of the letter, which it said was "unacceptable and puerile".

Parliament is considering a ban on bringing a mobile phone to school, but this would only apply to infant, junior and secondary schools - not lycées.

A ban on mobiles is likely to anger some parents. Child protection charity Action Innocence said it was against the ban because it would make it more difficult for children to get help if they were in danger on the way to or from school.

Between a third and half of school teachers are out on strike today, with demonstrations planned throughout the country this afternoon.

They are protesting against job cuts, a lack of resources, changes to teacher training and plans to reform the lycée system.

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Mobiles set to be banned in schools

Photo: Flickr Stuart Frisby