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TEXT II
France to trial ban on mobile phones at school for children
under 15
Kim Willsher - Paris
Tue 27 Aug 2024
France is to trial a ban on mobile phones at school
pupils who are younger than 15, seeking to give children a
"digital pause" that, if judged successful, could be rolled
out nationwide from January.
Just under 200 secondary schools will take place in the
experiment that will require youngsters to hand over
phones on arrival at reception. It takes the prohibition on
the devices further than a 2018 law that banned pupils at
primary and secondary schools from using their phones on
the premises but allowed them to keep possession of
them.
Announcing the trial on Tuesday, the acting education
minister, Nicole Belloubet, said the aim was to give
youngsters a "digital pause". If the trial proves successful,
the ban would be introduced in all schools from January,
Belloubet said.
A commission set up by the president, Emmanuel Macron,
expressed concern that the overexposure of children to
screens was having a detrimental effect on their health and
development.
A 140-page report published in March concluded there was
"a very clear consensus on the direct and indirect negative
effects of digital devices on sleep, on being sedentary - a
lack of physical activity and the risk of being overweight
and even obese - as well as on sight". It said the "hyper"
use of phones and other digital technology was not only
bad for children but also for "society and civilisation".
The report recommended children's use of mobile phones
be controlled in stages: no mobile phones before the age
of at least 11, mobiles without internet access between 11
and 13, phones with internet but no access to social media
before 15.
It also suggested children under three years old should not
be exposed at all to digital devices, which it said were "not
necessary for the healthy development of the child".
"We must put the digital tool in its place. Up to at least six
years old a child has no need for a digital device to
develop," Servane Mouton, a neurologist and
neurophysiologist who was on the commission, said. "We
have to teach parents once again how to play with their
children."
Banning phones in schools has long been debated across
Europe. In countries where bans exist this is most often
confined to their use and do not require children to hand
them over.
In Germany there are no formal restrictions but most
schools have prohibited the use of mobile phones and
digital devices in classrooms except for education
purposes. A quasi ban has been in place in Dutch
secondary school classrooms since the beginning of this
year, but as a recommendation and not a legal obligation.
From this school year the directive will also apply to
primary schools.
Italy was early to phone bans, introducing one in 2007,
easing it in 2017 and reimposing it in 2022. It applies to all
age groups.
In February this year, the British government issued
guidance for schools "on prohibiting the use of mobile
phones throughout the school day" but said it was for
individual head teachers and leaders to decide on phone
use policy.
Portugal is experimenting with a compromise by
introducing a number of phone-free days at schools each
month, while in Spain schools in some autonomous
regions have imposed a ban but there is no nationwide
prohibition.
Adapted from: <https://www.thequardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/27/franceto-trial-ban-on-mobile-phones-at-school-for-children-under-15>