The Minister of Education, Bernard Drainville, confirmed Wednesday evening that he had banned the use of cell phones in the classes of primary and secondary schools and professional training centers in Quebec.
“This directive aims to create a climate more conducive to teaching and learning in order to promote the academic success of students,” he said in a press release announcing the adoption of the measure in the Council of Ministers.
The ban concerns more specifically the use of “cellular, [d]earphones and other personal mobile devices by students on school premises.” School principals and school service centers will have until December 31 to enforce the new directive.
Exceptions will, however, be granted when the use of these devices in class is required “by the methods of educational intervention taken by the teacher, by the state of health of a student or by the particular needs of a disabled student or with adaptation or learning difficulties,” we can read in the document.
Minister Drainville announced last August his intention to ban cell phones in class on the public network. He said he would like the approach to these devices to be uniform. “I want the practice to be universal, I don’t want it to be fragmented,” he maintained.
With Marie-Michèle Sioui
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