A recent UNESCO report has reflected that in just a few years, banning smartphones in schools has moved from a handful of national initiatives to a widespread global policy trend representing 58% of countries worldwide.
A ban on mobile phone use in Mauritian schools is expected to take effect shortly. Following the lead of European countries such as England and France, these measures are being seen as tools to improve student focus, reduce bullying and foster a calmer learning environment. In aligning to global shifts, Mauritius is aiming to create a learning environment that supports academic success, emotional stability and healthy social development. Limiting phone use is seen as a way to reduce distractions and promote more meaningful interactions within the school community.
These steps come after the announcement at the end of last year, of the introduction of a child-specific SIM card to provide a safer digital environment by filtering harmful, illegal or inappropriate content. Mauritius is certainly setting the pace for Africa!
Here in South Africa, we’ve been reaching out to our regulators, urging them to put smartphone restrictions in schools on the regulatory priority list. Have you signed and shared our petition to show your support?
In the meantime, we’re so encouraged by the number of schools that are buying into the benefits, and voluntarily pivoting towards being phone-free academic spaces. If your school is one of these, please encourage them to sign up to our phone-free schools register so that we can profile and celebrate them!
REGISTER AS A PHONE-FREE SCHOOL
We love chatting to school leaders that are actively promoting the Parent Pact within their primary school parent community, and have signed up to be recognised as Phone-Free Schools. Teachers are vital to helping parents stay in the loop and acting as a solid backup (or even a shield!) when it comes to holding the line on tech and screen time.
David Burn (Highbury Preparatory School) firmly believes that parents underestimate their strength in numbers in standing together to hold tech boundaries.
Lisa Akerman (St John’s DSG) has already seen a difference in how her learners feel and behave towards each other - and the burden it’s lifted off teachers’ shoulders - since their school has been been phone-free since the beginning of this year.
George Harris (Hilton College) shared some insights and tips for other schools considering phone-free school policies.
True story: the journey toward a healthy relationship with tech begins long before a child receives their first device - it starts with what they see at home. Children are natural mimics, it’s a survival skill that helps them learn by observing and imitating the actions, emotions, and behaviors of parents, caregivers, and peers. And of course, kids replicate both positive habits and negative behaviours!
In our super-connected, always-on lives, we’re “parenting against the pull” of our devices. Our latest blog explores the need more than ever, for present parenting, and practical ways to create “friction” - to make it that little bit harder to keep picking up your phone.
That’s why we were so excited to come across a home-grown solution - the Swiitch tag.
This clever piece of tech works by adding “intentional friction” to your routine. By pairing a physical tag with the Swiitch app, you can lock your distracting apps with a simple tap. To get back in, you have to physically tap the tag again. It moves the switch for your digital life out of the screen and into the physical world, giving you a tangible moment to choose presence over the ping.
We’ve been trying it ourselves and have already seen some remarkable screen time shifts! We think it’s a brilliant way to “Swiitch off” the digital pull and “Swiitch on” family time. Give it a try and tell us what you think?
As a SFC-SA member, you get a special 10% discount on your Swiitch Tag at checkout. Please use code SFC-SA10 when ordering.
If you are a parent or educator at a pre-primary or primary school, and are keen to shift the norm in your community, let’s have a conversation!
We have a brilliant band of SFC-SA ambassadors ready and waiting to come and speak to your community and get them on board with the problem, the impact - and most importantly the solution to access by children to smart devices that is happening too early, is too uncontrolled and frankly too dangerous!
Our core team has been working hard at this mission on a completely volunteer basis but we’ll admit - it’s hard! As we all well know, there are so many priorities competing for funding in our country. We really, really, really need the support of our SFC-SA community to help us “keep on keeping on”.
If you believe in what we are doing, and the genuine difference we can all make together, here’s how you can help us:
Connect us with businesses whose brands resonates with ours - we’ve got lots of incredible ideas for “make a real difference” campaigns!
No posts
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.