France prepares to introduce phone ban in high schools

In France, a ban on the use of mobile phones in high schools may take effect at the start of the new school year in September. Government spokesperson Maud Bregeon said that President Emmanuel Macron had decided to promulgate the law containing the relevant provision, despite the Constitutional Council overturning another part of it. This was reported by NDTV World.

Law after the court decision

In July, the French parliament approved a law that provided for banning access to social media for children under the age of 15, as well as the use of mobile phones in high schools. The law is part of Macron's policy aimed at reducing the time children spend in front of screens.

Earlier this month, the Constitutional Council overturned the provision restricting access to social media for children under 15. At the same time, it did not rule on the separate provision banning phones in high schools. According to Bregeon, after the law is promulgated, the ban may take effect at the start of the school year on a legislative basis.

Mobile phone use is already prohibited in France's primary schools and collèges — schools for pupils aged 11 to 15.

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Schools did not have time to prepare

To comply with the new rule, high schools must amend their internal regulations. At the beginning of July, they were already instructed to prepare for the introduction of restrictions in September, before parliament approved the law at the end of the same month.

François Rene, national secretary of SNPDEN-Unsa, France's largest trade union of school leaders, called the timeline for introducing the rule unfortunate and said that schools were not ready. Christelle Kaufmann, the union's deputy general secretary, noted that at her high school, phones would be banned in corridors and buildings from the start of the school year but allowed outdoors. In her view, fully implementing the ban in all high schools could take nearly a year.

Kamel Chibli, vice-president of the Occitanie regional council, said that digital pouches and lockers for storing smartphones cost regional authorities about €40,000 for a school with 1,500 pupils. Pupils regularly use phones to check timetable changes, classroom numbers and other school information, while some teachers use them to search for materials and exercises and to exchange documents. The Ministry of Education allows exceptions for educational needs or cases necessary for the proper functioning of the school.