Valditara Circular

School: from September, a stop to mobile phones in the classroom also in high school

The Ministry of Education has issued a circular stipulating that from next school year, high school students will also be prohibited from using mobile phones during teaching and, more generally, during school hours.

by Claudio Tucci

16 June 2025

Cellulari a scuola, il divieto si estende alle superiori

2' min read

2' min read

After the first cycle, the prohibition on the use of mobile phones during teaching and, more generally, during school hours also applies to high schools.

This is stated in a circular that the Minister of Education and Merit, Giuseppe Valditara, sent to schools yesterday. "Such an intervention," the MIM holder wrote, "now appears to be unavoidable in light of the negative effects, amply demonstrated by scientific research, that excessive or incorrect use of smartphones can have on the health and well-being of adolescents and on their school performance.

Scientific Data

Going into detail, the circular cites studies by the OECD Pisa, the World Health Organisation, and the recent focus of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, which stated that among behavioural addictions, problematic use of smartphones affects over 25% of adolescents, with negative effects on sleep, concentration and relationships. All of this, of course, with serious repercussions on learning.

What's happening in Europe

On the international level, more and more countries have introduced or are in the process of introducing measures to limit, and in several cases prohibit altogether, the use of smartphones in the school environment, also reviewing the parameters of their use in the various forms of digital education.

Valditara himself had last May asked the European Commission to draw up a proposal to adopt a Council recommendation prioritising the well-being and cognitive development of students through the appropriate use of technology, banning the use of smartphones at school.

Changes in regulations

In order to transpose the mobile phone ban now also in high schools, schools will have to update their regulations and the educational co-responsibility pact to provide for a ban on the use of smartphones during school hours, even for teaching purposes, and specific disciplinary sanctions for those who violate the ban.

It is left to school autonomy to identify organisational measures to ensure compliance with this prohibition.

Exceptions

It is understood that the use of the mobile phone will always be allowed in cases where it is provided for in the Individualised Education Plan or the Personalised Education Plan as support for pupils with disabilities or specific learning disorders, respectively, or for justified personal needs.

Similarly, the use of mobile telephones remains permitted if, on the basis of the training project adopted by the school, it is strictly functional to the effective performance of teaching activities within the specific addresses of the technology sector of technical education dedicated to IT and telecommunications.

The other digital instruments

Exclusively for teaching purposes, the use of other technological and digital devices to support the innovation of teaching and learning processes, such as PCs, tablets and electronic blackboards, is obviously confirmed, according to the methods planned by the schools in the exercise of their teaching and organisational autonomy.

In this respect, educational institutions will take care to optimally exploit the potential of digital tools, now widely used in schools thanks to the considerable investments made in recent years, to improve the quality of teaching and foster learning.