Around 200 secondary schools and colleges in France are to test a smartphone ban as part of a new “digital break” program. If successful, the experiment could be extended to all schools in the country.
Education Minister Nicole Belloubet announced the experiment on August 27 at the Rentrée conference ahead of the start of the new school year. The official said that if all goes as planned, a general ban on smartphones in secondary schools could be introduced “as early as January 2025.”
According to the plan, schools will be equipped with individual lockers, partly paid for by local authorities, and partly by schools and colleges.
Formally, the ban on mobile phones was introduced back in 2018, but the rule was difficult to enforce, not only in the corridors during breaks, but even in class.
The issue was examined by the “display commission” (commission écran), a group of experts commissioned by President Macron to study the impact of smartphones on children and adolescents. The commission’s recommendations included a ban on children under 11 having access to mobile devices and on social media for those under 15.
The UK is already implementing a smartphone ban in its schools