As many as 79 education systems globally ban smartphone usage in schools till end of 2024, as per UNESCO

Even as the global debate over smartphone usage in schools continue, India is yet to come up with any specific law on the matter in educational institutions.

At least 79 education systems globally have banned smartphones in schools as many countries debate their impact on learning and privacy of children.

As per UNESCO, 79 education systems globally have banned smartphones in schools as many countries feel it impacts the learning and privacy of children. (Representative image/Unsplash)

According to the UNESCO's Global Education Monitoring (GEM) team, 60 education systems (or 30 per cent of the total registered education systems globally) had banned smartphone in schools by the end of 2023 through special laws or policies. By the end of 2024, 19 more joined the list, bringing the total to 79 (or 40 per cent).

India is yet to come up with any specific law or policy on smartphone usage in educational institutions.

Some bans have become more stringent in the last year. For example, the Zhengzhou city of China further restricted the use of phones in primary and secondary schools, demanding that parents provide written consent that a phone was really needed for pedagogical reasons.

In France, a "digital break" was suggested in lower secondary schools as an add-on to the already existing phone ban at other education levels.

At the opposite end, Saudi Arabia reversed its ban due to the opposition by disability groups for medical purposes.

"This mapping (of educational systems) did not include all sub-national jurisdictions in federal countries, although four were assessed in detail. For example, in Australia, two of the nine territories (New South Wales and South Australia) have introduced bans, while in Spain, all but three of the 17 autonomous communities (Basque Country, La Rioja, Navarre) have introduced bans," a senior official of the GEM team told PTI.

"In the United States, 20 out of its 50 states have regulations now in place, from the Phone-Free School Act in California to the phone ban for K-12 classrooms in Florida, the ban on students using portable wireless device in Indiana and another ban in Ohio," the official added.

In some of these new regulations in the United States, however, one approach is to issue guidelines, but leave it to schools to define the precise policies on usage in class. In Indiana, for example, school boards have to draft and publicly post specific policies for their schools saying whether students can access their phones during lunch and what consequences the students may face for using prohibited devices.

In addition, sometimes there are exceptions, such as for learners who require learning accommodations in the Louisiana ban, and for anyone with a health condition that requires monitoring in Ohio.

Outside of full bans, some countries have also banned the use of specific applications from education settings because of privacy concerns. Denmark and France have both banned Google Workspace, while some states in Germany have banned Microsoft products.

Bans also vary by education level. Most countries focus on primary schools, and some, such as Israel, on kindergartens. Others, such as Turkmenistan, have extended the ban to secondary school.

"We saw children as young as nine years old requesting smartphones and it was evident that these children were not emotionally ready to navigate the complexities of these devices and the digital world," said Rachel Harper, Principal of St Patrick's Primary School, Ireland, who banned smartphone use in her school.

In addition to the impact on learning, there are also privacy concerns when specific applications collect user data unnecessary for these applications to work. As of 2023, only 16 per cent of the countries explicitly guaranteed data privacy in education by law. However, one analysis found that 89 per cent of 163 education technology products recommended during the pandemic could survey children.

Further, 39 of 42 governments providing online education during the pandemic fostered uses that risked or infringed on children’s rights.

"A review showed that some technology can support some learning in some contexts, but not when it is overused or inappropriately used. Having a smartphone in class can disrupt learning. One study which looked at pre-primary through to higher education in 14 countries found that it distracted students from learning.

"Even just having a mobile phone nearby with notifications coming through is enough to result in students losing their attention from the task at hand,” according to GEM report 2023.

"Another study found that it can take students up to 20 minutes to refocus on what they were learning once distracted. Removing smartphones from schools in Belgium, Spain and the United Kingdom was found to improve learning outcomes, according to a study cited in the report, especially for students that were not performing as well as their peers,” it added.