France to ban smartphones in schools from next year

France will ban smartphones in primary and secondary schools from September 2018, the start of the school year. There is already a ban on the use of the devices during class, but this will be extended to breaks.

Le Monde writes that the French Minister of Education, Jean-Michel Blanquer, announced the measure in a TV program on Sunday evening. According to the minister, there are various ways in which the measure can be elaborated. Blanquer does mention that smartphones are sometimes needed for educational purposes or in emergency situations.

Teacher unions are critical of the announcement because it is the parents’ choice to give their child a phone and the rule is difficult to enforce. Concrete plans for the implementation of the ban have not yet been announced, it is not clear whether students will have to hand in their telephones, for example.

There is currently a ban on using a mobile phone during class. This rule is extended by the new announcement to a broader ban, whereby students are also not allowed to use their smartphones during breaks and breaks. According to Le Monde, a French survey in 2015 showed that eighty percent of students have a smartphone, compared to twenty percent four years earlier.

According to The Local, the ban applies to primary schools and to so-called collèges, where children between 11 and 15 years attend. Pupils in lycées should still be allowed to use mobile phones.