Messages are sent round the playground

Surveys suggest that nearly half of all youngsters between seven and 16 own a mobile phone.

They are said to send, on average, three text messages a day - some even during lessons.

Stirling High School rector Greig Ingram said that, for one girl, the messages became particularly threatening.

He said: "It started fairly low level, just they would get her and that she was no longer flavour of the month.

"But eventually it ended up it was a case of they were threatening her with physical violence and this particularly concerned the parents because I think there had been incidents out in the community of verbal abuse, followed up by these text messages, which were received on a fairly regular basis."

'Inherently bad thing'

Falkirk Council education director Dr Graeme Young said: "The best way to have it eliminated would be through pupil power.

"If they themselves could appreciate, as I'm sure the majority of them do, that it is inherently a bad thing then the fact that it is on a modern, swish, technological medium is no better than writing on the wall in days gone by.

"So if their pressure could be brought to bear, that would be the ideal way."