Quebec to impose full ban on cellphones in schools
Ban will apply from start to end of school day, including on breaks, starting next fall
Quebec is moving ahead with a full ban on cellphones and other electronic devices in schools.
Bernard Drainville, the education minister, announced the ban at an afternoon news conference on Thursday, saying cellphones are a barrier to socialization among students and can lead to conflict.
"Too many conflicts, too much violence, starts with cellphones, sometimes even during class hours," he said. "When there are no cellphones, young people talk."
The province has already banned cellphones in classrooms, joining a growing list of provinces with similar policies. That measure took effect on Jan. 1, 2024.
The new ban will apply from the beginning to the end of the school day, including breaks.
The ban will apply to both public and private schools at the elementary school and high school level.
It will come into effect as of the next school year, and it will be up to each school to decide how to implement the change, Drainville said. About 400 Quebec schools have already banned cellphones on school property, he added.
Drainville announced the cellphone ban alongside other measures that he said are intended to improve "civility" at the province's schools. The other measures include an obligation for schools to formalize the value of respect in their codes of conduct and for parents to sign that code of conduct to ensure they are aware of it.
The ban on cellphones in school was recommended by a special committee that studied the impact of screens on young people. An interim report issued last month found that cellphones were distracting and infringing on student's ability to learn.
The report said there may be specific exceptions when device use is necessary, particularly when a student's medical condition justifies it, for educational purposes set by teachers or to accommodate the needs of students with disabilities or learning difficulties.
The committee's final report, which will include all of its recommendations, is expected by May 30.
'Our goal is for them to socialize'
Some schools in the province have already had such a rule in place. David Bowles, the director general of Collège Charles-Lemoyne on Montreal's South Shore, said his school has had a ban on cellphones in the classroom since 2006. The school implemented a full ban on cellphones during the school day a few years ago.
"At the beginning, there was a reaction from students —- they liked to have that time with their cell phones to chat and play games or whatnot," Bowles told CBC Montreal's Daybreak.
"We explained to them that our goal is for them to socialize among each other, to go play outside."
At Charles-Lemoyne, students can show up to school with a phone but can't use it anywhere on the premises during school hours. Bowles said students are supposed to keep their cellphones in their locker and if they are caught using it during the day, it is confiscated.
In implementing the ban, Bowles said it will be important to explain the reasoning behind the change to students, and to have parents and teachers on board.
"We do see some students that become almost addicted to screen time and scrolling through different applications and YouTube and whatnot," said Bowles, who is also head of a federation representing Quebec private schools.
"For a lot of parents, it's difficult. It's very difficult to control screen time for their kids."