Over half of countries ban phones in schools
UNESCO reports that more than 50% of countries now ban mobile phones in schools, citing drops in cyberbullying and improved classroom attention—an accelerating global policy trend. That shift matters for STEAM programs balancing device‑enabled labs with hands‑on stations, and schools are rethinking clear 'tech on/tech off' routines (thehindubusinessline.com).
UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring team reports 114 education systems now enforce national mobile‑phone bans, equal to 58% of countries worldwide, up from 24% in June 2023 and roughly 40% in early 2025. (unesco.org) Several recent national additions to the ban list include Bolivia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Georgia, the Maldives and Malta, while France’s long‑running national restrictions are under renewed parliamentary review. (unesco.org) Not every system mandates outright prohibition: UNESCO notes some governments require schools to set local restrictions or allow phones only for defined educational uses or for pupils with specific needs (IEPs/medical), naming Comoros, Colombia, Estonia, Lithuania, Iceland, Peru, Indonesia, Serbia, Poland and the Philippines as examples. (unesco.org) A widely‑cited 2015 study by Louis‑Philippe Beland and Richard Murphy found that instituting school phone bans produced measurable increases in student exam performance, with the largest gains among low‑achieving pupils. (lpbeland.com) University of Texas coverage of that research quantified the effect as roughly a 6.41% of a standard‑deviation increase in scores and about a 2 percentage‑point rise in the share passing end‑of‑school exams after bans were implemented. (news.utexas.edu) K‑12 schools are turning to physical sequestration tools: news outlets report districts in 41 U.S. states have purchased magnetic lock pouches like Yondr’s, and Time magazine says Yondr serves more than 1 million students across 21 countries. (nbcnews.com) (time.com) California’s Phone‑Free Schools Act (AB 3216) requires every district, charter and county office to adopt a smartphone‑use policy by July 1, 2026, and state‑level and model policies explicitly allow exemptions for emergencies and pupils with IEPs or medical needs. (leginfo.legislature.ca.gov) (gov.ca.gov) Blended‑learning station models used in K‑5 STEAM classrooms — teacher‑led, online/device, and offline/hands‑on stations — provide an operational blueprint to alternate supervised device use with maker and tactile activities, a structure recommended in practice guides from Edutopia and AVID. (edutopia.org) (avidopenaccess.org) Implementation challenges documented by K‑12 reporters include students finding workarounds (dummy devices, alternate wearables) and the financial burden of replacements (San Mateo reported $15 per replacement pouch), leading districts to emphasise stakeholder communication and clear, consistent routines. (govtech.com) (marylandmatters.org)
