The Ford government has announced plans to limit cell phone use in schools and ban vaping starting in the 2024-25 school year.
Education minister Stephen Lecce announced the new measures on April 28th (via CityNews). Starting in the next school year, students in kindergarten to Grade 6 must keep their phones on silent and out of sight for the entire school day unless they receive explicit permission from an educator. Students in Grades 7 through 12 will see phones banned during class time.
Lecce said students who don’t comply will be asked to surrender their phones or be sent to the office.
“There are progressive discipline policies listed in this. It can include up to suspension if there are repeat violations.” Lecce said.
Report cards will also include comments on how distracted students are during class.
Additionally, the new rules include a ban on social media websites. They will be removed from all school networks and devices. This follows similar moves from Quebec and B.C. Notably, Lecce said Ontario is the first to block access to all social media platforms on school networks and devices.
Will the new measures make a difference?
Most schools already have rules about cellphone use in classrooms and restrict what websites students can access on school networks and devices, including social media. Moreover, many students rely on cell phones for various needs, such as accessing the internet if they don’t have a laptop, or for health and safety matters, like controlling an insulin pump. The Ontario government even attempted to limit cellphone use in 2019, but The Star noted it proved unenforceable. The Toronto District School Board (TDSB) attempted a cellphone ban in 2007 but reversed the decision in 2011 over equity concerns.
“I’m not really sure how this is going to change anything going forward,” Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation (OSSTF), told CityNews.
None of this is to say that cellphone use in schools isn’t problematic. Cellphones and social media can certainly be a distraction and can have mental health impacts on students — hence a recent lawsuit against social media giants like Meta and TikTok by various Ontario school boards. Instead, the concern is about a total ban on cellphone use rather than a focus on rules and policies that could help students build healthy relationships with technology.
New funding for mental health
As for vaping, the rules will require students to surrender vapes, and schools will notify parents or guardians about the situation. Notably, most schools already banned vaping.
The provincial government said last month that more security cameras and vape detectors would be installed in schools, with the province including $30 million in funding from the recent budget for school safety.
Additionally, the government said it will invest $17.5 million in “new wrap-around supports for student mental health and parent engagement.” That includes $15 million for students at risk of addictive behaviours, $1 million to partner with School Mental Health Ontario to develop webinars and resources about the adverse effects of vaping and excessive phone use, and $1.5 million for the Parent Involvement Committees and students to run local prevention campaigns to deter vaping and cellphone distractions.
Source: CityNews
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