School officials question Quebec’s new cellphone ban and civility code

Quebec plans a full cellphone ban and new civility rules in schools, but budget cuts and staff shortages raise doubts about enforcement.

The Quebec Ministry of Education has released its draft regulation outlining a complete ban on cellphones in schools, along with new civility rules for the province.

In May, the government announced it would expand its cellphone ban by prohibiting students in elementary and high school from using their devices anywhere on school property.

In addition to the ban, Education Minister Bernard Drainville also said students would have to follow a civility code and address teachers formally as “sir and madame.”

However, some education officials say that enforcement will be difficult amid budget cuts and believe the government should be focusing on more urgent matters.

Joe Ortona, president of the Quebec English School Boards Association, questioned whether enforcement would lead to staff “shortfalls.”

“With all due respect to the minister, his priority shouldn’t be on ensuring that these rules get enforced. It should be on ensuring that we have adequate staff,” Ortona argued in a recent interview.

“Rome is burning, and the minister is coming out with rules about proper etiquette and formal ways to address people and a cell phone ban while we’re dealing with hundreds of millions of dollars of cuts and what exactly that’s going to entail.”

According to the draft regulation, there are a few exceptions to the ban, including health reasons, special needs and for pedagogical use.

Moreover, each school will have to decide what disciplinary measures to implement for students who contravene the new rules.

Katherine Korakakis, the president of the English Parents’ Committee Association of Quebec, said that the harmful effects of cellphones do need to be mitigated, but raised doubts about whether the ban is the right measure.

“From parents, what we’ve heard and what we’ve always advocated is taking away the cell phones without teaching children about the effects of sound cell phones becomes a punitive measure and doesn’t do anything to address the crisis,” Korakakis explained.

“So now you’re putting something in place that is not enforceable. There are not enough teachers on hand. There are not enough staff members on hand.”

The ban was recommended by a committee of legislature members tasked with studying the impact of screen time and social media on youth.

In an interim report published in April, the committee found that mobile devices were everywhere on school grounds, and it heard from specialists who said extending the ban could reduce students’ screen time and encourage other activities, such as socializing.

Korakakis added that parents have expressed concern about not being able to reach their children.

“We raised this with the ministry and explained that, for the English-speaking community, there are real concerns — like not being able to reach your child, especially for students with special needs who take public transit. The ministry told us that as long as phones are kept in lockers, it’s not a problem. But they were already in lockers to begin with,” she said.

The new rules come into effect in the fall.

With files from The Canadian Press