TORONTO - The Canadian Press has learned that Ontario is set to announce this week that cellphones will be banned in classrooms, starting in the next school year.
Some schools already have similar policies, but the province will issue a directive to all public schools for the 2019-20 school year.
It would prohibit cellphone use during instructional time.
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Enforcement of the ban would be up to individual boards and schools.
The Progressive Conservatives had proposed such a ban in their platform during last year's election campaign.
Government sources who were not authorized to speak publicly ahead of the announcement say exceptions would be made for when teachers want to use cellphones as part of their lesson, for medical reasons and students with special needs.
“When the school day starts, the phones go off,” one senior government source said. “It's about recognizing that a school is a learning environment.”
The Tory government conducted education consultations last year, and while input on the sex-education curriculum dominated headlines, feedback was also gathered on a potential classroom cellphone ban.
About 97 per cent of respondents favoured some sort of restriction on phones in class, the sources said.
“It was the closest thing we got in our consultation to unanimity,” one source said.