The Dutch government has decided to act against the use of smartphones in classrooms. The Ministry of Education is initially asking school management to make proposals for implementing this measure from 2024.
Following a consultation that will end next October, the Dutch government will publish a directive which, from 1 January 2024, will prohibit Dutch pupils secondary education of check their cell phones within their school grounds. We can not help but draw a parallel with the situation of French schoolchildren and college students.
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The motivations behind this ban on smartphones in classrooms are the same everywhere. According to Robert Dijkgraaf, the Minister of Education of the Netherlands, there is growing evidence that mobile phones have a harmful effect during lessons […] Students can concentrate less well and their performance suffers.”
The Netherlands will ban smartphones in schools, colleges and high schools
We will necessarily do parallel with secondary school students in France. For nearly five years, French schoolchildren and college students have no longer been allowed to use portable devices in their establishments. A notable difference between the two measures is that the Dutch ban actually affects all secondary school students. Dutch high school students will not enjoy a potential free passas is the case in some French high schools, whose management has the power to override the law.
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It should also be noted that the approaches of the two governments are diametrically opposed. When the Élysée Palace passes Law No. 2018-698 of 3 August 2018 relating to the supervision of the use of mobile telephones in educational establishments, The Hague consults partners institutional so as not to impose a law… in the immediate future. Indeed, the Dutch Minister of Education hopes that the consultation “will positively change the learning climate”. If in the second half of 2024 the soft way has not borne fruit, then it will be time to legislate.