The leader of BC’s opposition party has vowed to ban cellphones in kindergarten to Grade 12 classrooms province-wide if he’s elected in October.
Kevin Falcon of BC United says restricting cellphone use will prevent distractions in the classroom and enable students to learn and perform better at school.
“It’s clear to parents how mobile phone usage is negatively impacting our kids’ educations,” Falcon said in a news release. “Let’s get this done now so students’ focus can return to their studies, not their screens.”
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Right now, individual school districts create policies about technology in the classroom. There is no province-wide policy about cellphones in BC schools.
Some other provinces have enacted policies on cellphones in schools, including Ontario, which restricts cellphone use during instructional time and only makes exceptions for students using them for health reasons (including mental health) and for teacher-sanctioned activities, such as conducting internet research.
Quebec banned cellphones in class in December. The prohibition took effect when students returned to the classroom this month.
Falcon has previously asked for a similar ban and re-upped his ask this month after education rankings released last month ranked BC students behind those in Alberta for all educational categories and below the national average for mathematics.
“Teachers already have enough on their plates without having to monitor cellphone usage in classrooms,” Falcon said. “Taking action to ensure students and teachers have a positive and healthy classroom environment is critical to set the next generation up for success.”
But when BC United shared the idea on social media, not everyone agreed with it.
Some said the party’s focus was “out of touch” and asked they instead focus on air quality in classrooms to prevent the spread of illnesses, including COVID-19.
This sounds completely out of touch quite frankly. It also doesn’t address the most urgent situation in schools being the physical safety of students and long term health: lack of CO2 monitoring, increased ventilation/filtration – and the disregard for new ASRAE Standards.
— Juanita Jackson 🌻#🟦 (@WestcoastBCLife) January 8, 2024
Focus should be on health and safety/air quality and support for students with learning differences. Adequate staffing, enough classrooms. Those are the priorities. Cell phones are at the bottom of the list.
— Laurie (@LLmcp) January 8, 2024
Would you like to see cellphones banned in classrooms province-wide? Let us know in the comments.
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