France is planning to strengthen the current ban on the use of mobile phones in secondary schools, which involves the complete rejection of devices by students throughout the school day. About this informs The Guardian.
France’s education minister, Elisabeth Bourne, has announced plans to introduce new rules from September that would require students to be completely disconnected from their gadgets while at school.
“At a time when the use of gadgets is widely questioned due to their many harmful effects, this measure is essential for the well-being of our children and their success in school.”, she noted.
The current ban on phones has been in place since 2018 and covers school grounds where “students’ mobile phones must be switched off and put away”. Educational institutions reported positive results: children began to communicate more, pay attention to physical activity, the manifestations of bullying decreased, and concentration improved. At the same time, according to the observations of some schools, some students tried to use phones in the restrooms during breaks.
Now the government emphasizes that it is necessary to go further and ensure that schoolchildren are completely removed from gadgets throughout the school day. This initiative, which the French authorities call a “digital pause”, has already been tested in a pilot format in about 100 secondary schools over the past six months. After arriving at school, children handed in their phones: they were placed in lockers, special boxes or bags that could only be opened by an electronic system at the exit from school.
Similar initiatives have recently been discussed or are already being implemented in a number of European countries. For example, Latvia has introduced a ban on the use of mobile phones for students in grades 1-6 while at school. And the speaker of the Polish Diet, the presidential candidate from the “Third Way” association Szymon Holovnia also spoke out for a complete ban on smartphones in educational institutions.
