MOBILE BAN GETS GREEN LIGHT FOR SCHOOLS

SCHOOLS have been given the green light to ban pupils from using mobile phones in a bid to halt disruption in the classroom and online bullying.

- VIVIENNE AITKEN

The Daily Record's Our Kids... Our Future campaign had backed calls for smartphones to be banned in schools after a shocking trend of kids filming violent incidents and posting the horrific footage on social media.

Now SNP Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth has issued new guidance formally backing head teachers who ban pupils from having mobile phones on school grounds.

She said there "are undoubtedly growing behavioural issues associated with mobile phones and announced that head teachers will be "empowered to take action up to and including whole school bans".

Gilruth, a former high school modern studies teacher, stressed she would "support any headteacher who decides to institute a ban on mobile phones in their school, adding that the devices "can detract from learning" and could "create unsafe learning environments that can impact behaviour".

Gilruth added: "I do think post-pandemic, mobile phone use in our schools has been really detrimental to behaviour and we know it's having adverse impacts in relation to attention spans of our young people."

She hopes the action taken will help to alleviate online attacks on children by other pupils, saying: "The cyberbullying which exists is often beyond the school gates but there is an element which exists in school.

"Bullying in Scotland's schools is not a new feature, but what I do think is new is the amount of bullying we are now seeing online"