{"id":1181896,"date":"2026-09-02T05:37:55","date_gmt":"2026-09-02T05:37:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1181896\/"},"modified":"2026-09-02T05:37:55","modified_gmt":"2026-09-02T05:37:55","slug":"france-bans-phones-in-schools-amid-warnings-of-intellectual-crisis-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/1181896\/","title":{"rendered":"France bans phones in schools amid warnings of \u2018intellectual crisis\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was back to school this week for French<\/a> second-level students, but with a difference: a national ban on mobile phones.<\/p>\n

The ban in lyc\u00e9es, attended by students aged 15-18, means that phones are now banned throughout France\u2019s preschool, primary and secondary school system, as phones in school were already banned for younger ages since 2018.<\/p>\n

The prohibition on phones in school is \u201cabsolutely essential\u201d, education minister \u00c9douard Geffray told journalists.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are facing a competition between screen time and learning time, to the detriment of the latter,\u201d he said, adding that \u201call teachers\u201d were noticing a gradual decline in students\u2019 vocabulary and ability to understand texts.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we fail to reduce our young people\u2019s screen exposure, we are heading toward an absolutely major health, intellectual, cognitive and even civic crisis,\u201d Geffray said.<\/p>\n

In practice, the ban means students must place their phones into collective boxes, lockers or pouches on arrival at the school and should collect them once classes end, according to the government.<\/p>\n

There are exceptions for use for medical reasons including disabilities, and for phone use for educational purposes, such as in an IT room or under the supervision of a teacher.<\/p>\n

Parliament voted for the ban in July and it came into force a week before classrooms reopened for the academic year, leading to complaints that not enough time was allowed to prepare for its implementation.<\/p>\n

French president Emmanuel Macron<\/a> had intended to combine the measure with a prohibition on social media<\/a> for those aged under 15, but this was struck down by France\u2019s top court in mid-August on the grounds that it went against freedom of expression.<\/p>\n

On a visit to a school in southern France to mark the start of an academic year, Macron vowed to try to reintroduce the social media ban in a modified form.<\/p>\n

\"France'sFrance’s president Emmanuel Macron speaks with students in Mende, southern France. Photograph: Guillaume Horcajuelo\/AFP\/Getty Images <\/p>\n

Scientific evidence showed that \u201cphones, screens, and even more so social media, detract\u201d from being able to learn, he said, with particular harms for those aged under 15.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey sap your attention span, as you\u2019ve said, and the ability to be with one another,\u201d he told students in a classroom of the Chaptal high school in the town of Mende.<\/p>\n

Students could be seen \u201cglued to their phones\u201d at break time instead of interacting, and the rise of short videos had reduced people\u2019s ability to read texts or even watch long films. <\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 20 seconds, we\u2019re fed up,\u201d Macron said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I hold meetings at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e Palace, I now ask people to put away their cell phones beforehand. Even at the \u00c9lys\u00e9e, you have meetings with people, and they\u2019re all on their phones,\u201d Macron told the students.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Children now \u2018struggle to grasp basic concepts\u2019: Teachers\u2019 views on screen timeOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause otherwise, we\u2019re not fully present for what we\u2019re doing. And that means we don\u2019t get anything done.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Chaptal high school had voluntarily imposed a ban on phones in classrooms last year. Each student has to place their phone in a numbered pouch that hangs at the top of the classroom beside the blackboard.<\/p>\n

It had stopped short of imposing a total ban within school premises, however, because the idea had been strongly opposed by students, members of the student council told Macron.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are strong arguments for limiting phone use: to improve concentration and student interaction, and to help those who struggle to manage usage on their own,\u201d a student said.<\/p>\n

\"TeenageTeenage girls with smartphones in front of the Camille Vernet school complex in Valence, southeastern France. Photograph: Nicolas Guyonnet\/Hans Lucas\/AFP via Getty Images <\/p>\n

\u201cBut the school was also pushing us to use phones and computers more and more,\u201d for internet research, for school work, and to use school apps, she added, complicating the matter. The measure was also seen as \u201cinfantilising\u201d by the teenagers.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not an easy subject, it\u2019s been very controversial,\u201d she continued, saying students needed to be won around. \u201cIt didn\u2019t happen overnight.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was back to school this week for French second-level students, but with a difference: a national ban…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1181897,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5309],"tags":[34,2000,299,36,182],"class_list":["post-1181896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-france","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-france","tag-social-media"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117199840341055238","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181896","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1181896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1181897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1181896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1181896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1181896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}