Rio bans cell phone use in classrooms – 08/07/2023 – Education

The City Hall of Rio de Janeiro prohibited the use of cell phones in the classrooms of municipal schools. The decree, signed by Mayor Eduardo Paes (PSD), was published this Monday (7).
The decree stipulates that the cell phone cannot be left on the wallet or in the student’s pocket: it must be kept in the backpack. The device will need to be turned off, or turned on in silent mode, or in vibrate mode.

Students who break the rule may be warned by the teacher. In case of insistence, the direction of the school can be activated. Rio’s municipal schools receive students up to the ninth grade.

“The use of cell phones disrupts concentration and directly impairs learning. It’s as if the student leaves the classroom every time he sees a notification. There’s no way to pay attention and learn fully like that. In addition, school is a place for socializing and staying on the cell phone interferes with social coexistence, leaves the child isolated on his own screen”, said the municipal secretary of Education, Renan Ferreirinha.

“It is necessary to educate and support children for this new time. In this sense, rules are fundamental”, he added.

The municipal decree authorizes cell phones in cases where the teacher wants to use them for educational purposes, such as research and reading.

Students with disabilities or health problems who need cell phones for monitoring or assistance may use them without restriction.

In São Paulo, a 2009 municipal law prohibits students from receiving or making phone calls in classrooms. The Municipal Secretary of Education says, however, that it encourages the use of equipment, as they “can expand students’ knowledge”.

“Schools have a specific curriculum for learning related to technologies and the conscious use of tools. In the municipal network, students received tablets as a way to help in learning through blended teaching”, said the secretariat, in a note.

In the state government of São Paulo, the Secretary of Education had decided to give up receiving textbooks, sent by the MEC (Ministry of Education), for students in the final years of elementary school (from 6th to 9th). Management had opted to use only one didactic material, produced by the Department of Education’s own team, which would only be made available digitally to schools.

But after announcing and defending the use of digital material, the Secretary of Education under the Tarcísio de Freitas administration (Republicans), Renato Feder, backed down on the use of technology in the classroom and says he will print textbooks so that students can “write, annotate and doodle”.

In July, Unesco (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) released a report warning about the negative impacts of cell phone use in the classroom on student learning and concentration.

“Students’ use of technology in classrooms and at home can be distracting, hindering learning,” the document says.

Unesco also identified that 1 in 4 countries have already banned or restricted the use of cell phones within classrooms.

There is also an alert that the use of technological devices in the classroom can deepen educational inequalities. Not just for financial reasons or access to the internet and equipment, but also among students with the same socioeconomic conditions.