People are reading and writing, but no bells are ringing.
A Canadian province has become the latest to ban cell phones in schools when classes resume next month.
In Manitoba, students in kindergarten through high school will be banned from bringing cell phones to school. High school students will be allowed to use them during lunch or recess, but not in class, CBC News reported.
Manitoba was the last province in Western Canada to introduce such a ban – and it has been met with enthusiastic approval by some students.
“The kids aren’t really paying attention,” Jurilynn Eileen Bonifacio Weekes, a sixth-grader, told the outlet.
“They are constantly texting and are disrespectful to their teachers.”
High school student Annabelle Dacey said the ban could help curb harmful cyberbullying.
“Schools are supposed to be a place of acceptance, a place where students can go and feel comfortable learning,” Dacey told the outlet.
Schools would make some exceptions, such as if the phones were needed for school-related reasons or if children had medical or learning-related needs, school officials told the news agency.
Arrangements still need to be made for school employees.
The ban comes as concerns grow about the distraction caused by cell phones in schools, and calls for such a ban have so far failed to materialize in the Big Apple.
In New York City public schools, NYC 311 allows students to “bring their cell phones, computer devices, portable music and entertainment systems to school.”
“Every school has its own cell phone policy. Students who bring a cell phone to school may only use it in accordance with their school’s cell phone policy.”
However, New York City school principals told Chalkbeat last month that the city was considering banning cell phones in schools starting in February – although Nathaniel Styer, a spokesman for the Department of Education, told the news agency, “No decisions have been made yet.”
