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Parents and teachers are forcing
some schools to dismantle wireless computer networks amid fears that they could damage children’s health.
More schools are putting transmitters in classrooms to give pupils wireless access from laptops to the school
computer network and the internet.
But many parents and some scientists fear that low levels of
microwave radiation emitted by the transmitters could be harmful, causing loss of concentration, headaches,
fatigue, memory and behavioural problems and possibly cancer in the long term. Scientific evidence is
inconclusive, but some researchers think that children are vulnerable because of their thinner skulls and
developing nervous systems.
At the Prebendal School, a prestigious preparatory in Chichester,
West Sussex, a group of parents lobbied the headteacher, Tim Cannell, to remove the wireless network last
month. Mr Cannell told The Times: “We listened to the parents’ views and they were obviously very
concerned. We also did a lot of research. The authorities say it’s safe, but there have been no
long-term studies to prove this.
“We had been having problems with the reliability of it anyway, so
we decided to exchange it for a conventional cabled system.”
Vivienne Baron, who is bringing up Sebastian, her ten-year-old
grandson, said: “I did not want Sebastian exposed to a wireless computer network at school. No
real evidence has been produced to prove that this new technology is safe in the long term. Until it is, I think
we should take a precautionary approach and use cabled systems.”
At Ysgol Pantycelyn, a comprehensive in Carmarthenshire, parents
aired their concerns to the governors, who agreed to switch off its wireless network. Hywel Pugh, the head
teacher, told The Times: “The county council and central government told us that wireless networks are
perfectly safe, but as there were concerns we listened to them and decided that the concerns of the parents were
of greater importance than our need to have a wireless network.”
Judith Davies, who has a daughter at the school, said: “Many
people campaign against mobile phone masts near schools, but there is a great deal of ignorance about wireless
computer networks. Yet they are like having a phone mast in the classroom and the transmitters are placed
very close to the children.”
Stowe School, the Buckinghamshire public school, also removed part of
its wireless network after a teacher became ill. Michael Bevington, a classics teacher for 28 years at the
school, said that he had such a violent reaction to the network that he was too ill to teach.
“I felt a steadily widening range of unpleasant effects whenever I
was in the classroom,” he said. “First came a thick headache, then pains throughout the body, sudden
flushes, pressure behind the eyes, sudden skin pains and burning sensations, along with bouts of nausea.
Over the weekend, away from the classroom, I felt completely normal.”
Anthony Wallersteiner, the head teacher of Stowe School, said that he
was planning to put cabled networks in all new classrooms and boarding houses.
Professor Sir William Stewart, chairman of the Health Protection
Agency, said that evidence of potentially harmful effects of microwave radiation had become more persuasive over
the past five years. His report said that while there was a lack of hard information of damage to health,
the approach should be precautionary.
A DfES spokesman said: “It’s up to individual schools to decide
on this.” |
