“The discussion is not taking place at this time,” confirmed Education Ministry spokeswoman Tereza Fojdova. From 2020, when the Education Act amendment came into force, principals can restrict or completely ban the use of phones during breaks.
“A mobile phone has no business in the first grade of elementary school,” said sociologist Michaela Slusareff, who has long devoted herself to the safe use of technology. “For older children, the mobile phone is an important way to connect with the environment, just like adults have. There, it is better to find a way to accept the principal and the students,” explained the expert.
Many European countries ban the use of mobile phones in schools. As of 2018, the ban applies to nursery, primary and secondary schools in France. The same regulation has been in place since this year in the Netherlands, where they appreciate it, and according to teachers, students are paying better attention and talking to each other during breaks.
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Some Spanish regions require cell phones to be switched off, and the same measures are being implemented in the UK. Slovakia, for example, went the opposite way, repealing the blanket ban the previous year.
Czech schools have already come up with various solutions. For example, they set aside a room where phones can be used or allow them to be used only for one break per day.
“It's not always the case that a child wants to be on the phone all the time. When he has other options, he is often happy with his phone. “A staff member at one school told me that when they bought ping-pong tables, kids started hitting them,” Slusareff recounted.
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A similar experience was described by Luboš Zajíc, head of the association of primary school principals and at the same time the principal of a primary school in Pegi. “We agreed with the parents that the mobile phone would not be used even during recess. The children started having fun together again, while we found entertainment for them, we played games or drew figures jumping on the corridors. Every Wednesday we have a dance break,” recounted Zajic.
“I can only recommend my decision as a good practice. I don't have statistics on how many schools have banned mobile phones,” Zajic added. Renata Shezhpalova, president of the gymnasium directors' association, said: “We don't discuss this topic in the association, I don't want to ban cell phones. If students use them during recess, that's their business.
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Mobile phones in schools have been dealt with in the past by the Czech school inspectorate, according to which bans are an excessive interference with the child's rights. This changed with the above amendment from 2020 onwards. “Thanks to that, schools have the right to ban. It's better if the school, parents and children come to an agreement. Ban is the easiest way to deal with the problem, but it doesn't solve it in the long run,” said central school inspector Tomáš Zatloukal.
A common argument for the ban is that mobile phones are misused for cyberbullying. “But the ban does not eliminate it, it happens only after classes. Some schools may say that bullying happened in their free time, and the problem is not about them, but that is not true,” said sociologist Slusareff.
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