The provincial government is introducing a plan that takes aim at cellphone use and vaping in schools for the 2024-2025 academic year.
The plan says that Kindergarten to Grade 6 students must keep phones silent and out of sight all day, unless permitted for special use. Students in Grades 7 to 12 can use their phones, but only outside of class.
Students who break the rules will have their phones taken away. A a call will then be made to their parents.
In making the announcement Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the move is part of their back-to-basics plan, which looks at the “negative impact” of mobile devices, social media and vaping in the halls and classrooms of our schools.
In an unprecedented move in Canada, social media websites will also be removed from all school networks and devices.
Teachers will be trained and “distraction levels” will also be included on report cards.
As for vaping, any student caught with vaping products will have them taken away, right away. The province will also invest in vaping-detectors for schools.
The move comes after four of the largest school boards in the province sued some of the largest social media companies, saying they have negatively rewired the way students think, learn, behave and disrupted the day to day life of schools.
We will be reaching out to local boards for their reaction.