The report, prepared by the Center for Planning and Evaluation of Public Policies (Planaap) at the request of the Ministry of Education, aimed to assess the level of adherence and efficacy of the recommendations made to schools regarding the use of smartphones for the 2024/2025 academic year, which has ended.
The evaluation, based on surveys conducted with school principals and non-teaching staff, concluded that “controlling the use of smartphones is particularly challenging in schools with large physical dimensions or those encompassing multiple education cycles, further exacerbated in contexts with scarce human resources.”
In early July, the government approved the previously recommended ban on phone use in schools up to the 6th grade, a measure set to take effect in the 2025/2026 academic year, starting in September.
School principals are awaiting guidance from the ministry, highlighting that in middle and high schools, the same playgrounds will be shared by students who are allowed to use phones and others who are prohibited from doing so.
The ministry, which seeks to discuss this issue with school directors, maintains the exceptions outlined a year ago regarding the use of smartphones for pedagogical purposes or phones without internet connection.
The Planaap report underscores the challenge of replacing phones with computers in the classroom, noting that “many classrooms are not technically prepared to simultaneously support the connection of computing devices for an entire class.”
The document concludes that the phone ban in schools, as recommended by the government for the past school year, 2024/2025, resulted in a “perceived decrease in cases of bullying [school violence], indiscipline, physical confrontations, excessive smartphone use, and isolation” in schools that adopted the measure.
Conversely, this ban led to a “perceived significant increase in socialization during breaks, use of games areas, library use, and physical activity.”
In the previous academic year, the ban on phone use and/or entry into schools was recommended for the 1st and 2nd cycles of basic education.
For the 3rd cycle, measures to restrict and discourage smartphone use were recommended, and in secondary education, students were advised to be involved in jointly constructing rules for responsible smartphone use in school spaces.
According to the Center for Planning and Evaluation of Public Policies, citing school directors, 79% of institutions with the 1st cycle banned phone use in the 2024/2025 academic year, while only 8% of secondary schools did so.
