The National Party who are currently leading our government have promised that term 2 onwards, the usage of phones anytime in the school day in secondary schools will be forbidden. They claim that this will somehow raise the standard of New Zealand education and make sure students get better grades. But not only is this a blatant infringement of our personal rights but it provides insight into how little National knows about the day-to-day functioning of colleges in New Zealand. 

The way politicians go on about phones, it sounds as if teenagers were texting to each other and watching TikTok during lessons. That is far from the truth. Speaking from my experience as a secondary school student, most if not all students only use their phones during interval and lunch. Apart from the worst miscreants, you will not see a single phone being used during class time. Teachers already enforce their own restrictions on that. But what little usage students get in their free time, National wishes to take that away too. Those phones are individual properties with no subsidies whatsoever from the government, entirely in the ownership of a student. As long as the student isn't using their phone to commit illegal or unethical activities, National has to right to have any control over whether student's are using phones outside of the class.  After years of decrying Labour on the basis of them overstepping the extent of the government's influence, it seems that National has no problem with a  nanny state when it's their own.  

However, all hope is not lost. While secondary students throughout New Zealand despair over this violation of their constitutional rights, rest assured that we can fight back. So what if we can't vote? Our voices can be heard and heard they shall be. When you sign this petition, you are contributing to a landslide victory in the name of liberty which ensures our rights are not subverted. Raise your voice and sign this petition.