Ontario education minister ‘excited’ by prospect of total cellphone ban in schools

Ontario education minister Paul Calandra recently toured schools in Quebec where cellphones have been banned. Photo by File /Postmedia

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Officially, the Ontario government is still examining the possibility of a total cellphone ban in the province’s schools.

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Unofficially, education minister Paul Calandra already sounds quite convinced of its merits.

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Speaking to reporters in a North York school on Monday morning, where he was announcing a planned province-wide rollout of a digital-learning platform to be used in classrooms, Calandra said he recently had the chance to tour a couple of schools in Quebec, where he attended a meeting with other education ministers.

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Quebec already has a “bell-to-bell” ban on cellphones in its schools.

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“The moment you walk in (the schools in Quebec),” Calandra said, “You can feel it, it was a different environment entirely.”

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He said when they went into the cafeteria, kids were talking to each other instead of scrolling their phones, and playing cards instead of tapping away on screens. Students were engaged and speaking to each other in the hallways, and out in the schoolyard, “kids were playing again,” Calandra said.

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“This is maybe a bit nostalgic, but it seemed like the kind of atmosphere that I grew up in, frankly,” Calandra said. “But we talked to a lot of the educators, and they said the same thing: It has completely changed the atmosphere in the school.”

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Ontario in 2024 banned the use of cellphones at any time during the school day for students in Grade 6 and younger, while in Grades 7 and up they may be used between classes and on lunch and recess breaks.

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Quebec and British Columbia have each brought in full cellphone bans in recent years.

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Asked if a ban in Ontario could come as soon as the next school year, Calandra said he would likely spend more time getting feedback from educators and school boards before making such a change.

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“I think I’m pretty excited about it, but I do have to spend a little bit more time with educators here in the province,” he said. One of the advantages of such a move, he said, is that it would take the responsibility off teachers and school staff who have to police the use of cellphones in senior grades and put the burden instead on the provincial government.

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Calandra said his Quebec counterparts have said the experience there was “initially a challenge,” particularly with parents, “but after that parents really, really, really embraced it.”

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He also said Quebec’s schools had to purchase playing cards and sports equipment to give students something to do once they were no longer spending so much time on their phones.

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“It seems strange to say, but the moment you walk in, you can tell it is a completely different atmosphere,” Calandra said.

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A pair of parent groups presented a petition at Queen’s Park earlier this month that called for an expanded cellphone ban, citing the distraction they cause in class and also the safety risks that come from increased digital harassment.

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