English Schools Ban Students from Using Phones
Educational authorities in England have decided to ban the use of mobile phones in schools in an attempt to reduce disruption and improve behavior in classrooms.
“The Times” reported that directives issued to school principals today, Monday, prohibit the use of mobile phones throughout the school day, including during breaks, and provide for punishing students by confiscating their devices for a duration deemed appropriate by the administration.
The instructions also granted teachers the ability to search backpacks and legal protection from lawsuits by parents in case of loss or damage to confiscated devices.
These rules apply to both primary and secondary schools and come just days after the intervention of Brianna Guy’s mother, who called for her daughter’s murder to be a “turning point” in reforming the “chaos” of the internet and social media.
The newspaper mentioned that there were four different policies that would be presented to schools to implement the directives, published about three years after ministers’ initial promise to ban phones.
However, the clearest option is a complete ban on phones on school premises, asking students to leave them at home or with parents.
This policy provides very straightforward boundaries, meaning students can be punished if found with a phone among their belongings at school.
The second option requires students to hand over their devices to school staff upon arrival and retrieve them at the end of the school day. Inaccessible lockers until the end of the school day have also been proposed to allow children to store their phones during classes.
The newspaper also noted a third, more liberal viewpoint, trusting students to keep their phones as long as they do not use them during the school day, with penalties for offenders.
