New Zealand to ban phones at schools amid fears of a classroom 'crisis'

New Zealand's Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said on Friday (Dec 1) that phones will be banned in schools across the country, a move he said would stop disruptive behaviour and help students focus. "We are going to ban phones across New Zealand in schools. We want our kids to learn and we want our teachers to teach," Prime Minister Luxon said, the news agency AFP reported.

Luxon declared the ban would be in place within his first 100 days in office. The decision comes amid levels of reading and writing in the country declining to the point that some researchers feared there was a classroom "crisis".

Add WION as a Preferred Source

AFP reported that Education Hub, a charity organisation, warned of a literacy crisis last year, finding more than one-third of 15-year-olds in New Zealand could barely read or write. "That something must be done to address the distressingly low literacy rates in Aotearoa New Zealand is clear," it said.

Survey: Phones shouldn't be banned during break time in schools

Most citizens supported phones being banned in classrooms but not during break time, a survey from Horizon Research said. Horizon surveyed 1,481 adults of which 61 per cent supported banning phones during class time but not during break; 56 per cent supported a ban on phones for the whole school day; 16 per cent of respondents said there should be no ban; and 52 per cent supported whatever decision the school took.

The survey was carried out last month.

Horizon Research said that although the phone ban policy was considered controversial during the election campaign, it had strong public support, and tweaking the policy would maximise support.

Prime Minister Luxon's government, which was sworn in Monday, has been mired in controversy since. The government scrapped tobacco control measures that aimed to prohibit the sale of cigarettes to anyone born after 2008, a decision widely criticised by doctors.

The government also agreed to restart offshore oil and gas exploration, junking one of former premier Jacinda Ardern's signature climate change policies.

(With inputs from agencies)