MPs Seek After-School Scheme to Cut Screen Time

TDT | Manama

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Five MPs have proposed a national after-school scheme to cut children’s heavy use of smartphones and smart devices, saying the hours after classes have become the emptiest part of many children’s day.

The proposal, brought by Dr Munir Seroor, Lulwa Al Rumaihi, Ali Saqr Al Doseri, Hassan BuKhammas and Mohammed Salman Al Ahmed, seeks a state-led programme of sport, culture, life skills and group play.

It says Bahraini families, like others across the Gulf, have seen a clear shift in the way children spend their time, with the after-school period often left to phones and tablets because there are too few other choices.

The MPs said the problem was not technology itself, but the way it had become the default answer to free time, above all when parents and other family members are at work.

They warned that long hours on smart devices after school were linked to early digital addiction, social withdrawal, weaker conversation skills, poor sleep and strain on the eyes, neck and spine.

Families, they said, were also being left under greater strain because easy-to-reach and low-cost choices were lacking. The problem grows during Ramadan, when children stay up later and fewer activities are made for them.

Dr Seroor said: ‘This proposal offers a direct answer by organising the hours after school through a national programme run by the bodies concerned.’

He said the work could bring in the Social Development Ministry, the Education Ministry, the Municipalities Affairs and Agriculture Ministry, the Youth Affairs Ministry, the Health Ministry, the General Sports Authority, the Bahrain Authority for Culture and Antiquities, and the private sector.

The proposal seeks wider schemes at clubs and youth empowerment centres, along with sports and social activities inside schools after lessons.

It also calls for school scout programmes to be widened, and for children’s events to be held in parks, open spaces and shopping centres.

The MPs also want phone-free family events, the return of old outdoor games and the creation of new group games to draw children away from screens and back into shared play.