"Even though mobile phones are intertwined with our lives, they do not belong in the classroom," education minister Robbert Dijkgraaf said in a statement."Students need to be able to concentrate and need to be given the opportunity to study well. Mobile phones are a disturbance, scientific research shows. We need to protect students against this."
The ban is the result of an agreement between the ministry, schools and relevant organisations. Schools can find their own way to organize the ban, Mr. Dijkgraaf said, but if that doesn't produce enough results, formal legal regulations will be involved by the summer of 2024. By the way, Mr. Dijkgraaf is a theoretical physicist, mathematician and string theorist.
The use of digital devices will only be permitted if required, for example during digital skills classes, for medical reasons or for people with disabilities.