Why does UNESCO want to ban smartphones in schools? Is it effective?

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has called for prohibiting smartphones in schools, citing classroom disruption and to prevent cyberbullying. A UNESCO report released on Wednesday (26 July) said that evidence showed there is a “negative link” between uncontrolled use of mobile phones and educational performance, reported The Guardian.

“The digital revolution holds immeasurable potential but, just as warnings have been voiced for how it should be regulated in society, similar attention must be paid to the way it is used in education,” UNESCO director-general, Audrey Azoulay, said.

“Its use must be for enhanced learning experiences and for the wellbeing of students and teachers, not to their detriment. Keep the needs of the learner first and support teachers. Online connections are no substitute for human interaction,” she added.

UNESCO’s findings come at a time when countries have started banning smartphones in classrooms. However, opinions are divided over imposing a complete ban on the device which became a prominent source of education for the world during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Let’s take a closer look.

Rise and rise of smartphones

Mobile phones have become an everyday necessity. Be it making payments or bookings, using social media, or even seeking academic resources, it is hard to carry out tasks without a smartphone in this day and age.

According to Statista, the total number of smartphone users worldwide is expected to reach more than 525 crore by 2023. The growth is likely to continue till 2028.

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India is predicted to have more than one billion smartphone users this year, reported BusinessLine.

According to a report in Exploding Topics, people around the world spend an average of three hours and 15 minutes on their phones daily.

At 5 hours 47 mins, Filipinos spend the maximum amount of average time on their mobile phones globally, while Japan spends the least – 1 hour 39 mins, reported DataReportal.

Countries restricting mobile use in schools

As kids in several countries are getting smartphones at a younger age, they are taking their devices to school. Recently, many nations are imposing bans on mobile phones in classrooms.

The Netherlands will ban mobile phones from classrooms in 2024. As per BBC, it is not a legal ban but may become so eventually.

Finland announced a similar measure last month. “We will make the necessary legislative amendments to enable more efficient restrictions in cases such as the use of mobile devices during the school day so that pupils and students can better concentrate on teaching,” the government said in late June, as per The Telegraph.

Schools in United States’ Ohio, Colorado, Maryland, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Virginia and California banned the devices in class this year. Several schools in the US have had a cellphone ban since 2020, as per The Washington Post.

China halted the use of mobile phones in schools in February 2021 to crack down on “internet and games addictions” as well as help students focus on their studies, reported South China Morning Post (SCMP).

Schools in Australia’s Tasmania introduced a mobile phone ban in 2020.

In 2018, France prohibited mobile phones for elementary and middle school students to increase concentration in classrooms and tackle cyberbullying.

While India does not have a legal ban on smartphones in schools, state governments and school administrations take their own call on the matter.

The United Kingdom (UK) has earlier supported banning mobile phones in schools.

Pros of banning cellphones in schools

Those who call for a ban on digital devices in schools often say they cause distraction in classes. Studies have also confirmed this argument.

According to a 2015 London School of Economics research, banning mobile phones at schools resulted in higher test scores, with low-performing students benefiting the most. “Restricting mobile phone use can be a low-cost policy to reduce educational inequalities,” the study said, as per CNBC.

Research published by the University of Chicago found that the mere presence of cellphones reduces the cognitive capacity of people.

A previous study conducted in Spain said that banning mobile phones in schools led to a fall in bullying incidents. Similar results were found by researchers in Norway.

However, a Sweden study did not find any “detrimental effect” of banning mobile phones, as per The Conversation.

Justifying the mobile phone ban, Dutch education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said earlier in July: “Even though mobile phones are almost intertwined with our lives, they do not belong in the classroom”.

“Students must be able to concentrate there and be given every opportunity to learn well. We know from scientific research that mobile phones disrupt this.”

ALSO READ: Put that Mobile Down: How using smartphones as kids can cause mental health issues

Arguments against the ban

Not everyone agrees that a complete mobile ban is a solution, especially in an increasingly digital age. Those against the ban say smartphones can help students learn better in schools, allowing them to become “self-sufficient learners”, as per CNBC.

In 2014, a UNESCO study found that smartphones in developing nations could help millions to read who have no access to educational and reading material.

According to the report on mobile readers in developing countries, about 62 per cent of respondents said they were reading more using their mobile phones. The report suggested that mobile reading could potentially benefit women living in countries where they face cultural or social obstacles to accessing books, reported Time magazine.

Research by the University of Warwick in 2017 found that mobile phone apps can “revolutionise school learning”  in developing countries where educational resources are scarce.

Moreover, mobile phones also act as a mode of communication between parents and their children in schools, and thus, some families encourage pupils to carry the devices for safety reasons.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the UK’s Association of School and College Leaders, told The Guardian: “Banning mobile phones entirely from school premises would raise some practical concerns, for example for parents wanting to contact their children while travelling between school and home. Some pupils will also use phones as payment methods on public transport.”

Some also point out that enforcing such bans have its own challenges.

Speaking to Wired magazine, Tess Bernhard, a former high school biology teacher, called a complete ban on devices “an extremely blunt tool,” one that seems like “a huge irony” as during COVID-19 students became accustomed to using phones for submitting assignments and interact with teachers at homes.

“Instead of banning phones outright, schools could consider introducing mobile phone use policies which develop children’s digital skills and resilience by teaching them about the benefits as well as the risks of mobile phone use,” Sarah Rose and Jennifer Taylor, senior lecturers at Staffordshire University, argued in their piece for The Conversation last year.

French high school teacher Philippe Watrelot, who headed an education research group, says such bans are ineffective. “It would be better to take a positive view rather than a prohibitive one. Yes, children need to concentrate better in school. But we should be using phones as a tool for learning, and if anything, we should try to make phones banal rather than make them more enticing by banning them,” Watrelot told NPR in 2018.

With inputs from agencies