The planned ban on use will enter into force after one year at the earliest.
In Sweden, the government plans to ban the use of mobile phones in primary schools. With the planned change in the law, students in grades 1-9 would not use the phone at all during the school day in the future.
They have reached an agreement on the cell phone ban by Ulf Kristersson led by the government and its support party the Sweden Democrats.
– We are taking a step forward in an important cultural change, characterized the Minister of Labor and Integration Johan Pehrson in an interview with SVT.
After the new rules come into effect, cell phones will be collected from students in the morning and returned after the school day.
– It’s probably not the most difficult thing in the world, Pehrson commented.
In order to enforce the mobile phone ban, Sweden’s current school legislation must be changed. With the new rules, principals would still have the right to decide on exceptions to the complete ban on phones.
Law blackmailed
Swedish legislation was changed last year so that nowadays the phone can only be used in class under the supervision of the teacher, and it became easier to confiscate the phone from the student.
According to a study carried out by the University of Gothenburg, the new rules now planned are problematic because students may sometimes need a phone for school work and they may still smuggle phones into class.
According to Minister Pehrson, experiments with a complete ban on cell phones have been successful and now the good practice should be extended to all elementary schools in Sweden.
– This is necessary, especially in light of the latest Pisa results.
The aim is to bring the ban on the use of cell phones into effect as quickly as possible, but the necessary changes to the law are estimated to take about a year.