School Smartphone Restrictions May Expand Beyond the Classroom

Kazakhstani schoolchildren may be banned from using smartphones not only in class, but also during breaks, Orda.kz reports.

Mazhilis deputy Askhat Aimagambetov supported the initiative to restrict smartphone use in schools and proposed transferring the authority to introduce such a ban from individual educational institutions to the Ministry of Education.

According to him, numerous studies confirm that smartphones significantly distract children during lessons. He noted that a number of leading schools in Kazakhstan have already decided to ban the use of mobile phones during school hours.

«Therefore, many leading schools — Bilim, NIS and others — found, firstly, courage, and secondly, the will, and simply banned the use of smartphones in schools. I think it’s right. The educational process is the educational process. Therefore, there is a proposal to transfer the function of prohibiting and limiting the use of mobile phones from the level of each school to the level of the ministry,» the deputy said on the sidelines of the Mazhilis. 

Answering a question about paying for school meals in the absence of a smartphone, Aimagambetov said the problem was familiar to him as a parent. He reminded that in some school canteens, payments are made exclusively via QR codes, which effectively requires a smartphone. In his opinion, this practice is unacceptable.

POS terminals should be installed in schools, and the possibility of cashless payment by alternative methods should be provided. This issue, he said, should be considered comprehensively together with the initiative to restrict smartphones.

Original author: Ilya Astakhov