The 373 schools in the Wallonie-Bruxelles Enseignement (WBE) education network are banning the use of smartphones in the new school year. The ban applies to nursery, primary and secondary schools, Le Soir and Sudinfo report.
The measure affects 132,600 pupils in Brussels and Wallonia. In a number of schools, the rule will apply immediately from Monday, at the start of the French-language school year. Last month’s Walloon coalition agreement mentioned a smartphone ban in primary schools, but WBE has chosen not to wait for political instructions to implement the idea.
The ban is part of the fight against bullying, Julien Nicaise, director of the WBE network, told Le Soir. “In addition, numerous studies point to the effects of too much exposure to smartphones on health and school environment,” he said.
“This ban does not mean we will stop using digital tools; quite the opposite. Our goal is to guide, direct and give young people the tools to use these resources, which are very natural for them, properly.”
Banning the device completely within school walls does not seem easy for schools
There will still be a place for smartphones in lessons on media education or artificial intelligence, for example. Nicaise: “It is up to us to ensure they learn to make the best use of them and that they question their use.”
Koen Pelleriaux, managing director of the GO! education network in Flanders, told De Ochtend that networks should not impose smartphone bans on schools. “Schools can deal with this perfectly well on their own,” he said.
“It is abundantly clear that smartphones can interfere with lessons. That is why it is the practice within GO! that students put their smartphones in a numbered pocket when entering the classroom. Banning the device completely within school walls does not seem easy for schools.”