Can schoolchildren in Ukraine be banned from using smartphones: clarification from the educational ombudsman and the wartime context
The issue of limiting the use of smartphones by students in Ukrainian schools from time to time appears in public discussions among both teachers and parents. Many countries around the world have already implemented strict restrictions on the use of mobile phones in classrooms, including France, Italy, the Netherlands, and China. The main argument is that the educational process should be protected from external stimuli. However, in the conditions of a full-scale war in Ukraine, any model borrowed from peaceful educational systems needs to be reconsidered. The question is not only about convenience or discipline, but about safety — and the child’s right to contact his family, receive alarm signals, and be able to coordinate his actions in emergency situations. It is from this point of view that the discussion of banning smartphones in schools in Ukraine takes on special significance. In the comments of RBC-Ukraine, education ombudsman Nadiya Leshchyk explained, why the formal removal of gadgets from children during education is an inappropriate step in the current situation.
Foreign experience: what happens in schools in other countries
In 2023-2025, a number of European countries have strengthened the rules for using phones in schools. In France, a complete ban has been in place since 2018: students are not allowed to use mobile devices at school, except in exceptional cases. In the Netherlands, from January 2024, a regulation came into force, which provides for the removal of smartphones from classrooms, but allows them to be left in special lockers.
In Great Britain, each school sets its own rules, but the general trend is to tighten restrictions. In China, it is illegal to bring phones to school without written permission from parents. Such decisions, as a rule, are based on the results of studies indicating the negative impact of smartphones on the concentration of attention, educational motivation and general psychological health of adolescents.
At the same time, in a peaceful society, all aspects of safety (evacuation, communication, behavior in the event of an emergency) are clearly regulated according to the schedule, and contact with parents or services is not a critical element of the daily educational process. In Ukraine, the reality is different.
The Ukrainian context: air strikes, shelters and instability
Unlike European schools, Ukrainian educational institutions work in a high-risk mode. Depending on the region, the number of air alarms during the week can reach a dozen or more. It is often the mobile phone that is the first means through which a child receives a notification of danger. According to the methodological recommendations of the Ministry of Education and Culture, during an alarm, students should evacuate to a shelter as soon as possible — and not wait for further instructions.
Education ombudsman Nadiya Leshchyk noted in a conversation with journalists that in a situation where children hand over their phones to teachers before the start of the lesson, several problematic issues arise. First, the responsibility for keeping the gadgets automatically passes to the teacher. Second, if an alarm catches the class off guard, the teacher will have to either leave the phones unattended or carry a box with dozens of devices — which violates the logic of evacuation and goes against safety rules.
In a stressful situation, the teacher’s main task is to control the actions of students, not to protect the equipment. Therefore, according to Leschyk, centralized storage of smartphones cannot be considered as a universal solution.
Possible approaches: balance between discipline and security
The ombudsman offers an alternative, which is based on the joint development of rules within a specific educational institution. According to her, the most optimal option is this approach, when the smartphone is in the student’s personal bag with the sound turned off during the lesson. In the event of an alarm, the child takes the bag, goes to the shelter and is responsible for keeping his device safe.
This format makes it possible to avoid unnecessary burden on teachers, does not violate the child’s right to personal belongings, and allows to respond to emergency situations promptly. It also makes it possible to preserve the element of student responsibility — because the child learns not to use the phone at inappropriate times, but to control his actions.
It is worth noting that some schools are already implementing similar solutions. For example, some institutions in Kyiv, Lviv, and Khmelnytskyi regions have developed internal rules for the use of smartphones, which have been agreed with parent committees. It stipulates that the phone must be in the backpack, and if it is used unnecessarily during the lesson – a warning, and in case of repetition – an individual conversation with the class teacher.
Regulation at the level of law: what the Ministry of Education and Culture says
As of June 2025, there is no legislative regulation in Ukraine that would directly prohibit the use of smartphones in schools. Each educational institution has the right to independently determine the rules of student behavior in accordance with the charter. This means that a formal ban is possible only at the local level, within the boundaries of a separate school or community.
The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine has not yet initiated changes to the regulatory framework regarding the use of mobile devices at school. In April 2024, Minister of Education Oksen Lisovyi noted that the ministry is studying foreign experience, but considers it expedient to adhere to the principle of autonomy of educational institutions.
In the current situation, a nationwide ban on the use of smartphones by students seems impractical from a practical and security point of view. Restrictions may make sense in peacetime, but in conditions of a constant threat of air attacks, frequent evacuations, risks for children and teachers, promptness and autonomy of actions come to the fore. That is why individual regulation within the school community – with the participation of teachers, students and parents – currently remains the only acceptable form of control over the use of gadgets.
At this stage, it is important to maintain the functionality of the communication, without shifting the responsibility to teachers and without creating an additional burden on the school administration. A smartphone in a backpack with the sound turned off is a compromise that takes into account both the educational process and the specifics of wartime. Further decisions can be made only after the end of the active phase of the conflict, stabilization of the security situation and taking into account the assessment of the effectiveness of local models.
