France pushes to ban elementary, middle and high school mobile phones nationwide in September next year

The French government has decided to expand the restrictions on mobile phone use introduced by some schools to all elementary and middle schools next year.

According to France's Le Monde, Alexandre Portier, the education ministry's minister for academic achievement, said, "We hope that the 'digital comma' measures will be implemented nationwide by the time of admission next September at the latest."

It is a national crisis now, he said. "The government has an obligation to protect the health of youth."

Since September this year, the French Ministry of Education has implemented a "digital comma" policy that prohibits students from using cell phones on campus in 200 middle schools.

It is a method of making a separate locker inside the school, collecting mobile phones when going to school and returning them when leaving school.

"There is a positive response coming from schools that have demonstrated their participation in the 'digital comma' policy," Fortier said, "and it has the effect of getting students fully immersed in learning."