Roham Akram, sixteen, was skeptical when the teachers in Calgary announced a prohibition of cell phones during the first assembly of the school year.
“I thought, ‘No one is going to follow this,” recalled the 11th grade student in September.
“It’s just the nature of adolescents. We don’t like rules.”
Teachers did not want to watch phones in desks or pockets, Akram added. “They loved him in the backpack, in the locker, in the car.”
She said the ban has been good for some students, who only need a reminder to concentrate on class, particularly when teachers are talking. But others have fought.
A teacher took a phone to a child who was really linked to his device, he said. “He started acting crazy. He signed asking everyone: ‘Can I use your phone? Can I use your phone? I need to go to Instagram.’
“I saw that the phones are becoming an addiction.”
The past fall, most provinces introduced policies to limit the use of cell phones in schools, similar to jurisdictions in other countries.
Now, as the school year concludes, the Ministries of Education throughout Canada say that the impact of prohibiting cell phones has been positive in general.
They say that she has taught students not to develop unhealthy attachments to their phones and to focus on classroom lessons.
Before the prohibition, Manitoba’s Minister of Education, Tracy Schmidt, said a school librarian complained that the students were too quiet sitting in the batteries of the books.
“The students would come in groups, they would sit at a table together, they took out their cell phones and everyone would sit there. A sliced pool was heard,” Schmidt said.
The prohibition of the cell phone has returned the talk and socialization among the students, he said.
“They still come with their groups of friends, but now they are sitting, they are talking, they are laughing. They could pick up a board game. (The librarian) was very, very grateful to the province for taking this step.”
The Ministry of Education of Ontario said that parents and teachers found that the prohibition created a better learning environment.
“As we close the first full year of implementation, we will continue to gather contributions to understand how politics has worked in practice, where it has been effective and where more support may be needed,” said spokeswoman Emma Testani.
In Nueva Scotia, the school staff was surprised at how well the new directive was to implement, said education spokesman Alex Burke.
“While not all students like to leave their devices outside the classroom, there is a general acceptance of the benefit of limiting the use of cell phones and the appreciation of the opportunity to ignore their phones,” Burke said.
Four months after the onnct prohibition of cell phones in the classroom, many teachers say that students have accepted the change and are more focused, but it is too early to say that if there has been an impact on performance.
The Edmonton Public Schools Board, Alberta’s largest school division, said it did not notice any important problem.
“The schools had the flexibility of determining the best way to implement the ban, if it meant introducing new practices or adjusting the current ones,” said spokesman Kim Smith.
A year of prohibition does not mean that students still do not use phones in class, Akram admitted. Some have become more cunning.
A fellow student used a textbook to hide her phone while the teachers spoke, she said.
“He just looks at YouTube’s shorts to the whole class.”
Akram said he also uses his phone during class working time, his airpods in his ears, under his hijab, so he can listen to music.
When teachers confiscate the phones, they are generally returned at the end of the class or school day, he added.
Akram said you can see why the prohibition may be necessary for generation Z and students with unhealthy attachments to their phones.
“We were born when people invented iPads and iPhones … so we grew up with screens.”
She said she believes that teachers will be stricter with the ban next year.
Edmonton AM9:45Are school prohibitions on cell phones that hurt students?
A BC education expert says that taking away a student’s phone can lead to digital stress. Alberta has banned students having cell phones in classrooms. However, an expert says that removing devices can cause more stress for students. Daniel, of the Surrey school district, speaks at the Gran Edmonton Teachers Convention of this week.
