Primary, middle, special schools, and lower secondary schools are to become fundamentally mobile-free zones. However, schools can autonomously establish exceptions, for instance, when mobile phones are used for educational purposes. Simultaneously, measures to promote digital education in schools are to be intensified, Wiederkehr explained on Wednesday after the cabinet meeting.

Nationwide Regulation on Mobile Phone Ban Comes into Effect on May 1st

"This is necessary to make school a place of concentration, performance, and also safety," said the minister. Mobile phones, smartwatches, and similar devices not only distract children and adolescents, making them "real concentration killers," but also lead to more conflicts. Therefore, classes and breaks need to be zones free of mobile phones.

Schools have already been able to regulate or prohibit mobile phone use during classes and breaks within the framework of school autonomy, and most schools have already done so. However, there are schools that have had difficulties enforcing this, according to the cabinet presentation. With a clear nationwide regulation, they now want to support school administrations and teachers. In preparing the regulation, school partners (student, parent, and teacher representatives) have already been involved, and it will be sent for further review for additional input.

Schools Can Decide on the Implementation of the Mobile Phone Ban Themselves

The regulation is to stipulate that schools themselves decide how the mobile phone ban is implemented and how phones are stored during the school day. There will be exceptions for children and adolescents who need the phone for health reasons (such as emergency buttons for people with severe illnesses, blood sugar measurement via phone app for diabetics).

Family Minister Claudia Plakolm (ÖVP), who had previously opposed a mobile phone ban during her time as State Secretary for Digitalization, also promoted the measure. Overall, she welcomes the measure because it means less screen time for students and the teaching staff no longer has to compete for attention with smartphones. At the same time, schools are obliged to engage more with "what happens on mobile phones and the internet in general," she pointed out phenomena such as cyber grooming or online radicalization. "We must prepare our children and adolescents not to believe everything and not to follow everyone."

Digital Education to Be Improved

In parallel with the mobile phone ban, initiatives to strengthen digital education are to be enhanced, as digital media competence is emphasized as a future skill in the cabinet presentation. For this purpose, the existing school subject "Digital Basic Education" is to be further developed, with increased training in digital media pedagogy and didactics for teaching staff and additional teaching materials announced. Furthermore, the protection on devices that students receive through the "Digital Learning" initiative is to be ensured and strengthened. A standardization of IT security measures is planned in the schools themselves.

(APA/Red)

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