Education includes telephone companies in meetings on the future of mobile phones in classrooms

Barcelona"At no time did they tell us that they were there and it was not included in the documentation either," explains to ARA one of the members of the Levanta el Jefe platform who participated in the second meeting of the commission created by the Department of Education to decide what the future of screens and mobile phones in classrooms should be. On Wednesday, the group of professionals who must analyze the effects of the use of digital devices and environments and their consequences met. Among those summoned were pediatricians and psychologists such as Francisco Villar –known for specializing in treating suicidal behavior among adolescents– and also entities such as Levanta el Cabo itself, which includes teachers and families who fight for a responsible and regulated use of screens, or AFFAC, which represents the majority of associations.

The surprise for some of the attendees was that a representative of the company Telefónica and one from the telephone cooperative Som Connexió also participated in this meeting. In the case of the latter, the name of Som Connexió had appeared from the beginning among the participants of the commission created by the Government. On the other hand, the name of Telefónica had not been made public, which has made some of the participants in the meeting surprised by its presence.

Education has confirmed to the ARA that in this first phase of the commission's work, "various non-educational actors" are being invited and that, in this case, "the operators were there to provide advice on cybersecurity issues."

Criticism

Although the minutes of this meeting, which detail the contributions of each entity to the meeting, have not been made public, the representatives of Levanta el Jefe warn that it would be necessary to avoid the participation of "actors who may have a conflict of interest" in the decisions that are made in this commission. "It is a scandal that economic interests are prioritized over the needs of the country's children and adolescents," they lament in a statement.

Sources from the platform clarify that they do not have "any direct problem with Telefónica," but they ask "that there is no company or person who may have a conflict of interest in this matter" and they insist that the mission of the commission is "to defend the well-being of children, not that of technological platforms."

However, AFFAC, despite being surprised by the presence of these companies, insists on not jumping to conclusions too soon: "We want to see if we can end up working well, looking after the interests of our children, with these companies." "As we at AFFAC want to try," they say.