- Poland’s President Karol Nawrocki has signed into law a nationwide ban on smartphone use in primary schools and kindergartens, joining a growing list of countries restricting classroom phone access.
- Governments including France, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia and South Korea have already introduced similar restrictions, with UNESCO reporting that more than half of the world’s education systems have adopted such policies.
- The development has reignited debate in Kenya, where teachers have raised concerns about smartphones fuelling distraction, cyberbullying and examination malpractice in classrooms.
Poland has become the latest country to restrict smartphone use in schools, after President Karol Nawrocki signed into law a sweeping ban targeting primary school and kindergarten learners across the country. The move joins a fast-growing list of nations tightening classroom phone rules in the name of learner wellbeing, discipline and academic performance.
Signed on 31 July 2026, the law takes effect on 1 September 2026, with schools given until the end of the year to fully roll out the new regulations. It forms part of a wider global reckoning with how smartphones are reshaping — and, according to many educators, undermining — the classroom experience.
Inside Poland’s new law
Under the legislation, pupils in primary schools and kindergartens will be barred from using smartphones, tablets or any other electronic device capable of communication, photography, audio recording or video recording during lessons, break times and school activities held off school premises. Schools may set up secure storage facilities where learners can keep their devices during the day, though doing so remains optional rather than mandatory.
The law carves out carefully defined exemptions. Learners who need electronic devices because of illness, disability or other special educational needs can continue using them with headteacher approval, while phones may be used in genuine emergencies involving threats to life, health or property. Teachers also retain the discretion to permit smartphone use whenever it is genuinely needed for instruction. Secondary schools, unlike their primary counterparts, remain free to decide for themselves whether to adopt similar restrictions through their own internal rules.
President Nawrocki’s office said the law is intended to build safer learning environments and help children develop healthier, more responsible relationships with digital technology. Education Minister Barbara Nowacka welcomed the legislation, noting that teachers had long pushed for stronger legal backing to enforce phone rules, and argued that the law would reinforce teachers’ authority while promoting order, discipline and digital wellbeing in Polish schools. The policy also enjoys strong public backing, with recent surveys showing more than four in five Poles support banning smartphones in primary schools.
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A worldwide shift away from classroom phones
Poland’s move fits into a much broader global pattern. Governments around the world are increasingly concluding that unrestricted smartphone access in schools interferes with learning, harms children’s mental health and erodes classroom discipline.
France led the way in 2018, becoming one of the first countries to introduce a nationwide ban on phone use during the school day for learners under 15. Italy has since extended similar restrictions across both primary and secondary schools, with exceptions for learning needs or special educational requirements. The Netherlands followed in 2024, stripping smartphones, tablets and smartwatches from classrooms except where they directly support learning or accessibility, while Finland has strengthened teachers’ legal power to confiscate or restrict phones during lessons.
Elsewhere, Brazil has adopted one of the world’s broadest school phone bans, covering learners aged four to seventeen. New Zealand now requires students to keep phones away for the entire school day to sharpen concentration and encourage face-to-face interaction, and most Australian states — including New South Wales and Victoria — have introduced comprehensive school-day bans. South Korea has also tightened its classroom restrictions, allowing only limited exemptions for emergencies, disability support and educational activities.
UNESCO estimates that more than half of the world’s education systems have now introduced national policies restricting or banning smartphone use in schools. Education experts say the measures are designed to improve concentration, reduce cyberbullying, curb social media addiction, cut down on examination malpractice, encourage genuine social interaction and support better mental health among children — a response to growing concern that unmanaged smartphone access can fuel distraction, anxiety and falling academic performance even as digital technology transforms education more broadly.
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What Kenya can learn
Poland’s new law is likely to revive debate in Kenya, where smartphones have become increasingly common among learners despite existing school regulations governing their use. Many teachers have raised concerns about classroom distractions, declining concentration, cyberbullying, online gambling, exposure to pornography, social media addiction and the growing role of mobile phones in facilitating examination malpractice. Others argue that, properly regulated, phones remain valuable tools capable of supporting digital learning, research and innovation.
The experience of Poland and other countries shows that regulating smartphones does not have to mean abandoning technology in education altogether. Instead, it points to a middle ground allowing digital devices where they genuinely enhance teaching and learning, while shielding learners from unnecessary distractions.
As Kenya continues rolling out Competency-Based Education, policymakers may increasingly have to weigh the benefits of digital literacy against the need to preserve classroom discipline, improve academic outcomes and protect learners’ mental wellbeing. The expanding list of countries embracing school smartphone restrictions suggests the global conversation has already moved past whether technology belongs in the classroom, and is now focused squarely on how it can be used responsibly to maximise learning while minimising harm.
By Hillary Muhalya
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