The education ministry has compiled a draft outline to allow junior high school students to bring their mobile phones to school, which is currently prohibited in principle.
According to the outline, schools, students and parents must agree on several points before allowing the students to bring their phones to school, including how the school manages mobile phone use and where the responsibility lies in case of the disappearance of a phone.
The Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Ministry plans to set limits on the use of the phones in schools, assuming they will be used as communication tools in case of emergency when students travel to and from school.
The outline was presented Wednesday at a meeting of a panel of experts who have been discussing the revision of relevant rules. The ministry plans to notify boards of education nationwide of new rules by the end of July, after carefully examining the requirements for allowing junior high school students to bring their mobile phones to school.
According to the outline, the ministry will continue to prohibit, in principle, elementary school students from bringing such phones because elementary students use mobile phones less frequently than junior high school students, and that they commute shorter distances.
According to a survey conducted by the Cabinet Office in fiscal 2018, 45.9% of elementary school students and 70.6% of junior high school students used mobile phones.
In a notice issued in 2009, the ministry prohibited elementary and junior school students from bringing their mobile phones to school, saying that they "are not necessary for educational activities."
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
