12/01/2026

MONDAY | JAN 12, 2026

FOLLOW

ON TWITTER Malaysian Paper

8

@thesundaily

Teachers’ union calls for under-16 ban

o UK govt aims to strike right balance

A government spokesperson said: “We support headmasters to take the necessary steps to prevent disruption in schools – backed by our guidance, the vast majority already restrict the use of phones during school, so they do not disrupt learning. “Through the Online Safety Act, we have taken some of the boldest steps anywhere in the world to ensure children have age appropriate experiences online, mandating that social media companies protect under-18s from harmful content. “We are striking the right balance: protecting children from harm while ensuring they can benefit safely from the digital world.”– Bernama

In a separate poll of 300 members, NASUWT found 89% said they would support a statutory social media ban for under-16s. Wrack said: “Our members tell us that social media is now one of the biggest drivers of poor behaviour, anxiety and disengagement in the classroom. “Children deserve the chance to grow, learn and form healthy relationships without being pulled into an online world that profits from their vulnerability. “We believe the government should join other countries and help young people by moving to a ban which would have support among parents and teachers.”

the behaviour crisis in our schools, then a statutory ban for under-16s must happen urgently.” The chief of schools watchdog Ofsted raised concerns at the end of last year that social media is “chipping away” at children’s attention spans and encouraging disrespectful behaviour. The union surveyed 5,800 teacher members last year and found about four in five (81%) reported an increase in the number of pupils exhibiting violent and abusive behaviour. Nearly three in five (59%) of respondents said they believed social media was one of the driving factors behind deteriorating behaviour.

There is growing evidence unregulated access to social media is driving poorer behaviour at schools, NASUWT said, as well as hurting the mental health of young people and exposing them to violent and sexually-explicit content. Its general secretary Matt Wrack said: “Teachers are dealing every day with the fallout of a social media landscape not originally designed and not suitable for children. “Social media companies have shown time and again that they will not act responsibly unless they are forced to do so. “If we are serious about safeguarding children, protecting their mental health and combating

LONDON: A teachers’ union is calling for the UK Government to ban social media for under-16s to improve concentration at school and stem damage to mental health. Teachers’ union NASUWT wants the government to bring in legislation that would make big tech platforms prevent children from accessing their platforms. The call comes after Australia’s social media ban for under-16s came into force last month.

Grateful Dead founding member dies LOS ANGELES: American guitarist and songwriter Bob Weir, a founding member of the revolutionary, psychedelic jam band Grateful Dead , has died aged 78, his family announced on Saturday. Weir was diagnosed with cancer in July and had beaten the disease, but “succumbed to underlying lung issues”, his family said in a statement on his personal website, without specifying where or when he died. “For over 60 years, Bobby took to the road. Bobby will forever be a guiding force whose unique artistry reshaped American music,” the statement said. “His work did more than fill rooms with music; it was warm sunlight that filled the soul, building a community, a language, and a feeling of family that generations of fans carry with them.” Founded in San Francisco by Weir, Jerry Garcia, Ron “Pigpen” McKernan, Phil Lesh and Bill Kreutzmann, the Grateful Dead became one of the leading music groups to emerge from the 1960s counterculture movement. With its trademark improvisational, genre blending style, the band became known for never performing the same show twice, winning an avid and diverse legion of fans, and selling millions of records. The rockers disbanded in 1995, a few months after lead guitarist Garcia’s death at the age of 53, and a year after the group was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. Weir would however continue to perform intermittently with other living bandmembers, more recently in the group Dead & Company , which also included guitarist and singer John Mayer. Following Weir’s death, 79-year-old drummer Kreutzmann became the last living co-founder of the Grateful Dead . – AFP

Thousands protest over fatal shooting MINNEAPOLIS: Tens of thousands of people marched through Minneapolis on Saturday to decry the fatal shooting of a woman by a US immigration agent, part of more than 1,000 rallies planned nationwide this weekend against the federal government’s deportation drive. metropolitan population of 3.8 million, marched towards the residential street where Good was shot in her car. The boisterous crowd, which the Minneapolis Police Department estimated in the tens of thousands, chanted Good’s name and slogans such as “Abolish ICE” and “Get ICE off our streets”. Protesters wearing inflatable costumes hold a sign outside the Portland ICE facility. – REUTERSPIC

told her to get out of the car. The shooting on Wednesday came soon after some 2,000 federal officers were dispatched to the Minneapolis-St Paul area in what DHS has called its largest operation ever, deepening a rift between the administration and Democratic leaders in the state. Federal-state tensions escalated further on Thursday when a Border Patrol agent in Portland, Oregon, shot and wounded a man and woman in their car after an attempted vehicle stop. Using language similar to its description of the Minneapolis incident, DHS said the driver had tried to “weaponise” his vehicle and run over agents. The two DHS-related shootings prompted a coalition of progressive and civil rights groups to plan more than 1,000 events under the banner “ICE Out For Good”. – Reuters

The massive turnout in Minneapolis despite a whipping, cold wind underscores how the fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer on Wednesday has struck a chord, fuelling protests in major cities and some towns. Minnesota’s Democratic leaders and the administration of President Donald Trump, a Republican, have offered starkly different accounts of the incident. Led by a team of Mexican dancers, demonstrators in Minneapolis, which has a

Minnesota officials have called the shooting unjustified, pointing to bystander video they say showed Good’s vehicle turning away from the agent as he fired. The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, has maintained that the agent acted in self-defence because Good, a volunteer in a community network that monitors and records ICE operations in Minneapolis, drove forward in the direction of the agent who then shot her, after another agent had approached the driver’s side and

Weir at a charity concert in 2023. – AFPFILEPIC