Ban Smartphones In School? Eton Has A Better Answer

I think I've now worked out what's wrong with the government's new guidelines on "banning" mobile phones from schools - they're actually not guidelines at all. Or, at best, they are drawn so widely as to be virtually meaningless.

- SEAN O'GRADY

Gillian Keegan, still an education secretary on a quest for some gratitude from a callous public, has launched the umpteenth set of guidance on how to tame the scourge smartphone addiction among our young, but I don't think a grateful nation will be overwhelming her with messages of thanks for her efforts.

Basically, the Department for Education is offering schools four options that, on the basis of some years of direct experience in the matter, they might just have worked out for themselves.

Thus, the department suggests a range of options, all glaringly obvious: a) No mobile phones on the school premises; b) Mobile phone handed in on arrival; c) Mobile phones kept in secure location, which the pupil does not access throughout the school day; d) Never used, seen or heard.