Poland to Ban Smartphones in Schools
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| Poland to Ban Smartphones in Schools Nationwide |
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Tuesday that Poland wants to ban mobile phones in schools for those under 16 starting September 1st and plans to impose stricter age verification rules for accessing sexually explicit material.
Countries including the Netherlands, South Korea, and Italy have already banned smartphones in schools due to concerns about their impact on concentration and behavior. Other countries have banned—or are considering banning—children's access to social media.
The proposed legislation would prohibit phone use in schools for children aged 7 to 15, including during breaks between classes, and would give schools a legal basis to establish designated phone storage areas, according to Reuters.
"We propose banning the use of mobile phones in primary schools during lessons and breaks," Tusk said. "We are convinced that parents and teachers should have access to such a device."
He added: “We face a civilizational problem: almost everyone, especially younger people, is addicted to platforms, games, and other things. We recognize that this could have disastrous consequences for children’s lives and for the country.”
In a separate bill proposed by the digital minister, new obligations would be imposed on websites that display sexually explicit content, with the aim of restricting children’s access to it.
The government previously stated in the explanatory memorandum to the bill that age verification cannot rely on users’ self-declarations of age, biometric data, or data related to user activity online, but must be designed to comply with privacy and data protection requirements.
In February, Education Minister Barbara Nowaka unveiled plans to ban children under 15 from using social media, potentially setting the stage for a clash with major US tech companies.
Tech companies argue that the focus should be on how devices are used, rather than imposing outright bans, pointing to the existence of parental control tools and other targeted restrictions. They also maintain that smartphones offer benefits in areas such as learning, communication, and safety.
