Italian schools to bring back paper diary.

Italy is to ban the use of smartphones in schools "including for educational purposes", from the next school year, education minister Giuseppe Valditara said on Wednesday.

The move will prohibit mobile phones from primary level up to scuola media, or junior high school, and will not include the use of tablets or computers "which must be used under the guidance of a the teacher", Valditara said.

"I don't believe that good teaching can be done with a cell phone until middle school", Valditara told an education conference in Rome, describing the clampdown on phones as "an important step forward" to restore authority to teachers as well as combating bullying and violence.

The initiative was praised by Antonio Affinita, director of the Italian parents' movement Moige, as "positive" step that addresses "the improper uses of technology, especially within the world of school."

Oggi sono state firmate due circolari con importanti novità:
- a scuola divieto di utilizzo del cellulare - anche a scopo didattico - fino alla terza media;
- torna il diario cartaceo per gli studenti, mentre i genitori continueranno a utilizzare il registro elettronico. pic.twitter.com/tZdPvuSLjE

— Giuseppe Valditara (@G_Valditara) July 10, 2024

In a post on X, the minister cited last year's UNESCO recommendation that smartphones be banned from schools as they distract students and have a negative impact on their ability to learn.

Valditara also announced a return to the paper diary or homework journal, with students writing down their tasks in pen from September onwards.

Parents can still consult their child's homework on the online register but stressed: "We must get our children used to writing again, to the relationship with the pen and with paper".

Moige welcomed this move also, stating: "Today children are losing the ability to write which is a way of working and thinking that generates an important development of the minor's intellectual areas".

The move by Valditara is part of a long-running debate on cell phones at school which goes back almost 20 years.

Italy first introduced a ban on the use of phones during lessons in 2007, under guidelines issued by then minister Giuseppe Fioroni, who described phones as a "distracting element" that represented "a serious lack of respect for the teacher".

Shortly after taking office in late 2022, Valditara confirmed the ban on the use of mobile phones in the classroom, only allowing their use for educational and training purposes.