Portugal eliminates smartphones from schools. Introduces an official ban

In the new school year, 2025-26, the Portuguese government will introduce a ban on the use of mobile phones by students in middle and high schools, announced the country's Minister of Education, Fernando Alexandre, on Wednesday during the Lisbon Web Summit conference.

Recalling the ban on the use of smartphones by children in Portuguese primary schools, which has been in force since September, he explained that this restriction turned out to be a beneficial solution.

Minister Alexandre added that banning students from using smartphones in all schools will not involve “escaping from advanced technologiesHe assured that the ministry he heads will support the popularization of solutions based on “artificial intelligence as a learning aid” in schools.

According to Antonio Monteiro from the ASSP association that groups school employees, Wednesday's announcement by the Minister of Education is proof that the previous tolerance of the use of smartphones by children in schools was a “faulty educational policy.”

In an interview with PAP, Monteiro recalled that in August this year. The Ministry of Education obliged the principals of primary, secondary and junior high schools to create alternative forms of spending free time during breaks for students instead of mobile phones.

From September this year The use of smartphones is banned in primary schools in Portugal. In turn, in junior high and high schools, the Ministry of Education issued a recommendation to limit the use of these devices.

The Portuguese Ministry of Education has recommended schools to limit students' smartphone use for the first time in the form of a recommendation in 2024.

From Lisbon Marcin Zatyka (PAP)

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