The education ministry has told the nation's prefectural boards of education to instruct primary and middle school authorities to ban students from bringing cell phones to school. It also has called for improvement in the education of morals related to communications.
Many schools have already taken similar steps. As of December 2008, 94 percent of publicly run elementary schools and 99 percent of publicly run middle schools prohibited students from taking cell phones to school. Twenty-four of the nation's 47 prefectural boards of education and 510 of the nation's 1,826 municipal boards of education have already instructed school authorities to give students proper guidance on the use of cell phones.
The ministry issued the instruction because bullying and abusive language on cell-phone Web sites inflict psychological damage on students and because information on such Web sites could contribute to students becoming crime victims.