HUMBOLDT – While Saskatchewan is introducing new rules restricting the use of cell phones in the province’s schools for the upcoming school year, the director of education for the Horizon School Division says many of its schools already have such policies.  

Kevin Garinger told SaskToday.ca that he has been lucky to be able to sit on various committees and working groups to hear from many medical professionals on the impact that screen time has on children. “When you have University professors across Canada and the head of the Pediatrics Society of Canada telling you the impacts of social media are profound on children, that screen time has an addictive quality, researching the impacts of screen time on children is necessary.” 

The new policy means cell phones will not be permitted during class and will apply to all schools in the province from kindergarten to Grade 12. 

Garinger said, “We deal with technology every day in school and some of the negative impacts from cell phone use, the bullying and the ability to engage during class time.” 

The Horizon School Division does have schools where cell phones were already not allowed in classrooms during class time.  

“With this mandate, we are able to help support the work our teachers do, in a better way, we will be able to implement an administrative procedure, if exceptions need to be made.”

School division procedures will include exemptions for students that require ongoing use of mobile devices as accommodations for medical or specific learning needs. These exemptions could be for children who are diabetic or need a device due to learning needs. 

Garinger said the safety of students and staff will continue to be an important priority. “Teachers will be able to make an application to the school division if they feel the use of cell phones would be helpful in the learning environment.” 

Garinger went on to say it needs to be a bit flexible where it makes sense. “We have 3,300 devices in our schools and want to provide easy access to support students that way.”  

Garinger also spoke about other types of devices, like Garmin and Apple watches. With this policy, they will need to ensure these devices are not distracting students with notifications. 

Garinger hasn’t had any feedback from teachers yet but hopes that many will understand the significance of screen time and the negative impacts that it can have in their classrooms. “Many of our teachers have already eliminated cell phones in the classroom.”  

Connection with students and parents, the ability to engage and focus on learning are some of the positive changes he hopes to see. 

“We see many cases of bullying on TikTok, and other social media platforms that are being used inappropriately, we recognize this and we will continue trying to support the parents [on the] appropriate usage of technology.” 

With this announcement from the Saskatchewan government, Saskatchewan joins several other provinces with initiatives to limit or restrict internet-connected devices in schools for implementation in fall 2024.