Mobile phones are banned for students at NSW government high schools during school hours

Students will have fewer distractions when they return to class as a ban on mobile phones in NSW secondary schools comes into force.

The state’s public secondary schools will join government primary schools in implementing a ban on mobile phones during school hours when the fourth term begins on Monday.

Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, the Northern Territory and Western Australia already have bans, while Queensland students will face one from next year.

ACT is asking its residents for feedback on a possible ban.

Education Minister Prue Carr said each school had consulted with its department to determine how to implement the ban.

“A lot of schools are doing ‘off and away’ so they’re off and in a bag or in a locker, others have locked bags and some schools are putting them in the front office or in a designated place,” said she for ABC Radio at. Monday.

“We’ve worked with every school across the state to make sure (the ban) fits what’s going to work for them.”

Ms Carr said the nationwide ban would help reduce the burden on teachers and improve outcomes for students.

“We believe this will help the kids focus so the teachers can do their jobs in the classroom,” she said.

Prime Minister Chris Minns stressed the importance of the ban being applied ‘across the board’.

“It is essential to ensure that young people in particular can focus on the schoolwork in front of them and that teachers have an attentive classroom,” he said on Sunday.

An explosion in phone use in schools had coincided with a drop in test scores, he said.

He cited a UK study that showed schools with phone bans had better academic results for 16-year-olds.

“Anyone can see that these cell phones are designed to distract young people, with their notifications, social media, gaming technology.

“We cannot expect young people to concentrate on academic work while having a phone ringing in their ear every second.

The policy – an election promise of the Minsi government – will affect 320,000 students in 400 public schools.

Each school will be able to decide how to enforce the ban, with some exceptions for students who need their phones for health reasons, such as to monitor blood sugar if they have diabetes.