French schools to be advised on limiting smartphone use
FRENCH schools are to be given ‘detailed advice’ about how to limit use of mobile phones in schools – but will not be able to ban them outright.
Officials made the admission yesterday as legislation aimed at preventing children using devices in class reached the Senate, the upper house of the Paris parliament.
Education minister Jean-Michel Blanquer said teachers and other staff would receive ‘detailed advice helping institutions in the concrete implementation of the project’.
Nobody can ban the phones completely because they are not illegal, but guidelines will be provided. It will recommend that pupils act sensibly and turn off their devices as soon as they get school, leaving them at the bottom of a bag or ideally in a locker.
All children aged six to 15 will be affected by the ban, while 17 and 18 years in the French equivalent of the Leaving Certificate will be able to carry on using their phones.
Mr Blanquer said at the time of introducing the legislation last year: ‘Sometimes you need a mobile for teaching reasons, and for urgent situations, but their use has to be controlled.’