AFPFrench Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer has touched off a public debate about banning phones in schools as he seeks to implement a campaign pledge by President Emmanuel Macron. In an interview with Express magazine, the minister suggested that pupils might be asked to deposit their phones in secure boxes when arriving at school or for classes. Macron, a 39-year-old centrist, put banishing mobile phones from all primary and secondary schools in his manifesto ahead of his election victory in May. Experts and trade unions have pointed out that using mobile phones in class is already outlawed in France, even though research shows that many pupils confess to having broken the rules. "Imagine a secondary school with 600 pupils.

Source: The Local September 13, 2017 12:56 UTC