The Department of Education has announced this Thursday that all secondary education centers in Catalonia will have to regulate the use of mobile phones from the next school year 2024-25.
Those responsible for the Department have explained that, starting in January, a general regulatory framework will begin to be prepared as a guide for educational centers. The Secretary of Educational Transformation of the Generalitat, Ignasi Garcia Plata, stated this Thursday at a press conference that the new regulatory framework will have clear guidelines for schools and institutes and that it aims to "homogenize the reference elements that must be regulated in centers " on the use of mobile phones, both in Primary and Secondary School.
During this month of November, debates will be held in the territorial school councils and in some centers, as well as specific sessions with families and students. Educació wants the process to be participatory and involve the entire educational community.
The Minister of Education, Anna Simó, announced this Wednesday the participatory process during the Government control session days after thousands of families have mobilized to try to stop the “normalization” of buying a smartphone at the age of 12, coinciding with the start of high school, and postpone it until 16.
Garcia Plata congratulated the families' initiative, after being asked at a press conference, and said that he sees this debate as "healthy", both in the educational center and in the families themselves and the domestic use that children and young people make of it. mobile.
In addition to this common regulation document to "accompany" the centers, Simó explained that they plan to organize a work session with the main family associations, experts in pediatrics and data protection, and with the main groups of parents who have self-organized to delay the delivery of smart phones to their children.
37% of educational centers in Catalonia have prohibited the use of these devices in the classroom, according to a survey carried out by the Department itself in both public and subsidized schools and institutes throughout the community.
Only 85% of the 3,500 educational centers responded to the survey, as reported by the ACN. Among the conclusions, it is clear that 43.7% do not directly allow the use of mobile phones in the center and 26.2% prohibit access to the educational facility with the device. At the same time, half of the centers (52.7%) claim that they already have mobile phone use regulated.
The councilor considers that "it is not so much about prohibiting but rather about educating." On the one hand, she argues that the use of these devices must be regulated and, in turn, "tools" must be provided to adolescents and families so that they can face the situation "with judgment."
