Smartphones banned until secondary school: parents and teachers all agree

It could have been a potentially divisive move. Instead, the decision by the Minister for Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, to absolutely ban - even for teaching purposes - the use of smartphones in primary and secondary schools seems to have everyone, or almost everyone, in agreement.

In fact, as shown by a hot poll carried out by the Skuola.net portal - which, in the aftermath of the minister's announcement on the arrival of the circular on the subject, reached 500 people, including students, parents and teachers - as many as 3 out of 4 members of the school community are in favour of the measure.

The best, however, is encountered by going even further into the responses of the various 'audiences'. Because it may well be - indeed, it is almost normal - that among teachers about 80% support Valditara's move. But it is even more disconcerting to discover that, more than them, it is the parents who welcome the novelty with open arms: if we isolate mothers and fathers, the consensus is close to 90%; in this case, therefore, the families do not seem to take their children's side, as often happens for other school events.

But the real surprises come when it comes to the students who are the direct recipients of the crackdown on mobile phones. Obviously, the numbers are lower. But it is not insignificant that, among pupils in lower secondary classes, 2 out of 3 say they are prepared to leave their phones switched off while they are at school. And this is not a blunder, since even their older colleagues - not affected by the measure - think in the same way: among secondary school pupils, two thirds (67%) approve of the ministerial choice. A sign that, regardless of school level, student consensus has this consistency.

The motivations behind this unequivocal choice of field are the most varied. Adults, in this case, are the most vocal. There are those who say, for example, that the ban may 'serve to discipline students in being attentive and concentrated'. Those who judge the incoming circular as 'excellent, if only to get young people used to surviving even if 'disconnected' for a few hours'. And those who, more sharply, argue that it is right because 'school should not be a bar but a serious place'.