A BENDIGO principal is urging his colleagues to take a hard-line approach to Facebook and ban students from accessing the site on school computers or private mobile phones.Bendigo Technical Education College banned the social networking site a fortnight ago and four students have already been suspended for breaking the rules.Principal Peter Carr said he made the decision to ban Facebook because of incidents of cyber bullying and conflict between teachers and students.“It’s blocked on all the computers and students are banned from using phones during class time,” Mr Carr said.“We are going to assume that if you take your phone out in class you’re going to use it for Facebook or texting and that’s an immediate suspension.”Mr Carr said teachers at the school were sick of telling their students to get off the social networking site.“Most of the conflict we had between teachers and students was because kids were on Facebook,” he said.He said Facebook was “a great piece of technology” if used responsibly, but many teenagers did not have the maturity level to use it without some strict boundaries.“I think it’s not enough to just teach them to be responsible – you have to take a tougher stand than that,” he said.“These principals are saying we have to educate kids to be ‘responsible digital citizens’. “Is it reasonable to expect a 16 to 18-year-old to have that discernment? I don’t think it is. I think they need a helping hand.”A special school assembly was called to tell BTEC students about the new policy, and Mr Carr said the ban had been mostly well received.“Some of the students have been thanking us,” he said.“They say, ‘I didn’t realise how much of my time it took up’.”