Top Swiss education official not a fan of phones in schools

Are younger people unlearning the ability to talk to each other? Keystone-SDA

The head of the Swiss Conference of Cantonal Ministers of Education, Silvia Steiner, said in an interview that smartphones have brought about a decline in interpersonal communication abilities.

However, Steiner does not believe a general ban, to be imposed by politicians, is necessary, she told the Tages-Anzeiger newspaper on Wednesday.

Most schools already have clear regulations on the use of mobile phones and schools have to make their own decisions in this regard, she says. However, personally she doesn’t see the need for phones in class or the schoolyard.

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In Switzerland, mobile phone bans in schools are an issue in several regions. In Würenlos in canton Aargau, a ban on smartphones on the entire school grounds has been in place for years. In Zurich, the issue has been raised by two right-wing cantonal parliamentarians.

The cantonal school in Chur, canton Graubünden, meanwhile offers various alternatives to smartphones: table tennis, table football, a reading corner and a piano. There, the aim is to encourage pupils to socialise more, principal Philippe Benguerel told the Keystone-SDA news agency earlier this month.

Adapted from German by DeepL/dos

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