By Kang Shin-who
Staff Reporter

The Seoul Metropolitan Council is unlikely to establish an ordinance banning students from carrying and using cell phones at primary and secondary schools.

According to the council, Monday, it has decided to halt its deliberations due to opposition from city residents.

Last July, a number of council members for education and cultural affairs started work on the ordinance to ban the use of cell phones at elementary and secondary schools.

The council sought to bar elementary school students from bringing mobile phones to school.

However, recent polls showed that more than half of the replies were skeptical about the plans. The council has polled citizens twice over the issue since July.

Most of the 2,883 respondents of the poll conducted in July agreed that cellular phones are detrimental to the learning environment in schools. However, more than half of the respondents opposed a legal ban.

More specifically, nearly 56 percent said schools should have discretion over the issue, while 32 percent advocated outright prohibition.

In a poll on October, there was a 55 percent backing for schools' to have autonomy on the matter. Only 7 percent of them supported the ban.

Seoul City has some 1,250 elementary and secondary schools and about 30 percent of them are currently banning students from carrying mobile phones.

Earlier, the Ulsan Metropolitan Office of Education also proposed banning students from carrying and using cell phones with passage on the matter expected in October. The case is pending at the city council.

kswho@koreatimes.co.kr