Friday, September 05, 2008 Parents prod Lapu to lift ban on students from Net cafes
LAPU-LAPU City is planning to lift the ban on primary and secondary school students from Internet cafés following complaints by parents that their children had difficulty or could not do their assignments that require the use of computers.
The ban, which is spelled out in an ordinance, covers Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It took effect in middle of 2006 amid alarming reports of pornographic files and video sex scandals uploaded in computers.
It carries a penalty against the owners of the Internet shops ranging from suspension of their business permit to revocation for a third offense.
Amendment
However, a proposed amendment to the measure requires the parents or a guardian to accompany the child because not even a school certification could be used as an exemption.
City Councilor Marcial Ycong said he came out with the idea to amend the existing ordinance because only those from a well-off family can afford to buy personal computers making the academic competition among students unfair to those who belong to poor families.
Vice Mayor Mario Amores and City Councilor Damian Gomez shared Ycong’s view but they suggested that his proposal should be explicit on who are considered guardians.
Weekends
“How would we know what the dirty old man is doing with a child inside an Internet café,” Gomez said, adding that anybody could claim to be a child’s guardian.
Children could enter Internet cafes at night and during Saturdays and Sundays, which are not covered by the ban, but the parents complained that school assignments are given during school days.
Amores, on the other hand, said Internet café business sprouted like mushrooms and these should be used for the children’s mental development and computer literacy.
But, he said, to protect the children from the corrupted programs in the computers certain restrictions should be imposed. (AIV)
