‘Don’t use your phones,’ Doug Ford tells students

Ontario Premier Doug Ford says the province’s latest attempts to limit cell phone use in classrooms are designed to help students focus on learning.

Ford says his message to students in class is simple: Don’t use cell phones.

On Sunday, Ontario’s Education Minister announced new rules on cell phone and social media use in elementary and secondary schools.

Children in kindergarten through sixth grade will be required to keep phones on silent and out of sight throughout the school day, unless they obtain explicit permission from an educator.

Students in seventh grade and up will be prohibited from using cell phones during class time.

The Progressive Conservative government had asked school boards to develop their own mobile phone policies in 2019, but Education Minister Stephen Lecce said the results were mixed.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 29, 2024.