BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

The Ministry of Education here has mandated primary and secondary school principals to rigidly enforce a ban on the use of cellular phones by students while at education institutions.

Amid widespread public concern over the use of cellular phones by school students, the ministry said the phones and other communication devices such as pagers were not permitted at schools and called on principals to ensure that the ban which it first imposed in March 2003 was enforced.

"Students are not permitted to bring cellphones, pagers or any other communication devices to school.

"Students who defy this rule will have these devices confiscated and their parents summoned to collect them," Chief Education Officer Griffith Watson advised school principals in a recent memo.