Manitoba is banning cellphones in school for kindergarten to Grade 8 students and restricting their usage for those in high school.
A spokesman for the premier confirmed the restrictions will take effect this fall. Students in Grades 9-12 “will need clear direction from teachers to use cellphones in class,” the premier’s press secretary, Ryan Stelter, said Thursday.
Exemptions will be made for medical or accessibility reasons, Stelter said.
More details are expected later Thursday.
The Progressive Conservatives had already called for a provincewide ban.
Some Manitoba school divisions have already imposed their own cellphone bans, with one taking the restriction of screen time even further. Manitoba’s francophone schools division is set to restrict computer usage for elementary and middle school students starting this school year. It is directing teachers to limit screen time to no more than an hour a day while in the classroom.
Manitoba was the only western Canadian province that had not introduced plans to restrict cellphones in schools after Saskatchewan’s decision last week to ban the use of the devices for the 2024-25 school year. Saskatchewan’s policy applies to all K-12 classrooms and followed announcements in Alberta, B.C., Quebec, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
The bans are designed to reduce distractions and help students focus in class.
— With files from The Canadian Press
fpcity@freepress.mb.ca