TORONTO — Ontario will limit cellphone use in classrooms, restrict access to all social media networks and ban vaping on school properties starting in the fall.
Education minister Stephen Lecce announced the new measures at a morning news conference Sunday, touting them as necessary steps to improve safety in schools and help students focus in class.
"Every parent and teacher we speak to has shared the growing problem of cellphone distractions in class during instructional time, in addition to the disturbing rise of vaping in schools amongst our youth," he said.
"We need to be bold. We need to be comprehensive. And we need to act with urgency today."
The government has put together a "comprehensive plan" to curb distraction levels among the province's students, Lecce said, including restricting cellphone use and banning vaping in schools.
"Our policy includes enforcement to ensure compliance and consistency provincewide through these changes that will be coming into effect this fall," he said.
"We will be denying cellphone use during instructional time."
Kids in kindergarten to Grade 6 will be required to keep phones on silent and out of sight for the entire school day, unless they get explicit permission from an educator, while those in grades seven and up will see cellphone use banned during class time.
"If they do not comply, they will be asked to surrender their phones or they could be sent to the office," Lecce said.
"There are progressive discipline policies listed in this. It can include up to suspension if there is repeat violations"
It will fall to school staff to decide when the use of technology is appropriate, and Lecce said he will "have the backs" of the teachers, principals and superintendents who will be the ones enforcing the new government policy.
Quebec and British Columbia have already made similar moves to ban the use of cellphones in class, but Lecce said Ontario will be the first to block access to all social media platforms on school networks and devices.
Report cards will now also include comments on students' distraction levels in class.
Concerns about social media and its effects on students are not confined to government officials. Four of Ontario's largest school boards announced plans last month to sue the parent companies of Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat and TikTok.
The schoolboards allege the social media platforms are disrupting student learning, contributing to a mental health crisis and leaving educators to manage the fallout.
The Toronto District School Board, the Peel District School Board, the Toronto Catholic District School Board and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board filed four separate but similar cases in Ontario's Superior Court of Justice in late March.
The lawsuits claim the social media platforms are designed for compulsive use and have rewired the way children think, behave and learn.
In addition to the new restrictions on cellphones, Lecce said vaping will be banned in all school alongside all tobacco, nicotine and cannabis products.
Students caught carrying such products will have them confiscated, and schools will be required to notify parents if that happens, he said.
The Ontario government announced last month that more security cameras and vape detectors will be installed in schools. The province earmarked $30 million in funding for school safety in the most recent budget.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 28, 2024.
— With files from Laura Osman in Ottawa
Maan Alhmidi, The Canadian Press