Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew says a cellphone ban is coming this fall to schools across the province.
“Provincewide, the education minister is sending out a letter today to all the divisions saying no phones in school — no phones at all in K-8,” Kinew told 680 CJOB’s The Start on Thursday.
“In the high school years, Grade 9 to 12, that’s where we want to have a conversation about being a responsible user of technology. So there it’s not going to be a complete ban.
“Having TikTok on in math class is not helping you, and it’s not helping the student beside you — in fact, it’s actively causing distractions and it’s causing issues and it’s getting in the way of you learning.”
Kinew said the province is giving flexibility to school divisions to decide if kids will be required to leave their phones in their lockers, at the principal’s office or on their teacher’s desk.
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“The schools are going to be able to figure out the local solutions.”
Exemptions for will be made for medical reasons and in cases where phones can be used as a learning aid.
Manitoba is the last province in Western Canada to make a move on banning the tech in classrooms — a controversial topic in recent months.
In a provincial release Thursday afternoon, math teacher Evan Janzen Roth of Collège Sturgeon Heights Collegiate said the Winnipeg high school had implemented some restrictions of its own last year, with some success.
“Students were allowed to use cellphones on their breaks. I have noticed that with these restrictions in place, when students would finish work or assessments early, it has given them the opportunity to read more books or engage more with their peers and teachers,” Roth said.
“The restrictions have also increased students focus without the distraction of their phones. It has been really nice that the cellphone policy was schoolwide, so that everyone had the same expectations, and it was quite easy to implement because of that.”
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