The School Council approves its proposal to prohibit cell phones with exceptions after meeting with Sánchez and Alegría

MADRID, 25 Ene. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Permanent Commission of the State School Council unanimously approved this Thursday its proposal to address the ban on mobile phones in classrooms, which includes some exceptions, after meeting with the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, and the Minister of Education, Vocational Training and Sports, Pilar Alegría.

"We have worked with a group made up of 21 people who represent all sectors, teachers, families, absolutely everyone, and we have reached an agreement," the president of the State School Council, Encarna Cuenca, said in statements to the media. after the meeting.

The president of the advisory body has defended that, living in a digital society, students must be prepared to live in that society and develop "in all their fullness with digital media."

However, he has warned that these digital media "carry a series of dangers" and must prepare students to make responsible use of mobile devices.

For this reason, the State School Council has made a proposal in which it advises that preschool and primary schools "do not carry mobile devices, except in specific, exceptional cases that have to do with health, with the need to be controlled."

"In Secondary Education, if cell phones are taken with them, they must be kept turned off, except for those moments in which, for educational reasons, it is necessary to connect them, under teacher supervision. Always respecting the autonomy of the centers," said Cuenca.

Given the ban on cell phone use, the president of the State School Council has advised schools to "look for leisure alternatives." "In fact, that is something that is already being done in educational centers. There are proposals to recover traditional games, games that have to do with how to promote coexistence among children," she said.

For their part, the President of the Government and the person responsible for Education have conveyed this Thursday to the State School Council their proposal to ban mobile phones in schools.

The Ministry headed by Pilar Alegría will convey its proposal to the autonomous communities in a meeting to be held on January 31, as government sources have informed Europa Press. To date, there are five autonomous communities that already prohibit the use of mobile phones during school hours: The Community of Madrid, Galicia, Andalusia, the Region of Murcia and Castilla-La Mancha.

For its part, the State School Council presented this Thursday, during the meeting of the Permanent Commission, to the President of the Government and Minister Alegría the contributions of the organization's working group on the use of mobile devices in non-university educational centers , which includes its prohibition in schools although with some exceptions, which has been approved by the body unanimously.

The Government will study the proposals of this body and debate them with the autonomous communities at the meeting on January 31.

Specifically, the document from the State School Council advises proceeding with a specific regulatory framework for each of the educational stages, due to the great diversity of centers and the difference in the ages of the students.

Thus, it concludes that in Early Childhood and Primary Education, students "do not need" to bring mobile phones to the center, except in those cases in which they are authorized for very specific individual reasons related to health or other duly justified personal or family circumstances.

In Compulsory Secondary Education, if you carry your cell phone, the advisory body defends that it should be kept turned off from the entrance to the educational center until the exit, including school periods, recesses and other rest times, complementary activities and extracurricular activities developed. within the educational center, "except when mobile phones are used for supervised educational purposes or when their individual use is necessary for duly justified health reasons.

Finally, in post-compulsory teachings, the document points out that, by virtue of the autonomy of the centers, their management "can regulate the use of mobile phones based on their specific circumstances."

The State School Council highlights that moving towards responsible digital education implies the establishment of certain limits of times and spaces of use inside and outside educational centers, "for which the close collaboration of the entire educational community, the students, is required. , families and teachers".

The advisory body considers that regulating the use of mobile devices in educational centers "is a measure that should be determined by common basic criteria and at the same time respectful of the territorial reality" of Spain.