Half of parents want schools to ban mobile phones

New research has found that pupils now take more than £2.3 billion of gadgets into the classroom every day, with half of parents wanting them banned.

The research, from uSwitch.com, reveals that 40 per cent of students take at least one gadget to school every day, while 18 per cent take two, and eight per cent take three. More than half of children take a smartphone to school, with 15 per cent carrying a tablet computer, 12 per cent wearing a smartwatch and 11 per cent using Bluetooth headphones. Only 26 per cent don’t bring any devices with them.

A quarter of parents said they had considered downgrading their child’s smartphone to a ‘dumbphone’ that can only be used for calls and texts, to remove potential distractions. 13 per cent said their child’s school had already banned phones.

Ernest Doku, mobiles expert at uSwitch.com, said: “It’s a mark of our always-connected times that half of pupils now have their own smartphone, and the number of gadgets that schoolchildren are carrying into class every day is mind-boggling. It is understandable that parents are concerned about the potential distractions facing their children, but banning phones from schools is not as straightforward as it sounds, especially since technology is an integral part of modern life.

“Striking the right balance is an impossible task for parents and teachers, but with the arrival of 5G, the world is going to become increasingly connected, and schoolchildren need to be able to deal with the tech-filled environment they’re growing up in.”