Singapore, or more specifically its Ministry of Education, has tightened guidelines when it comes to smartphone use by secondary school students. Starting January 2026, secondary school students won’t be allowed to use their smartphones or and smartwatches during school time. This includes during recess and co-curricular activities.
The Straits Times reports that currently, the use of smart devices in secondary schools is only prohibited during regular lesson time. With the new tightened guidelines, smartphones and smartwatches will also not be allowed during “supplementary, enrichment and remedial lessons”.
Despite these restrictions, the report cites the ministry’s statement that “students’ devices will have to be kept in designated storage areas such as lockers or in their school bags during school ours”. The latter seems a pretty lenient option in light of the restrictions.
Also noted is that this will put restrictions on secondary school students in line with those for primary schoolers that went into effect in January of this year. A ministry spokesperson was cited as saying that some secondary schools have adopted these measures as they were announced for primary schools, “with positive outcomes”. These include improved student well-being, enhanced focus, and more physical interaction during unstructured time such as breaks.
On the note of positive outcomes, one would imagine that distractions by smart devices is not an issue that’s exclusive to Singaporean schools. These may be measures that our own Ministry of Education may look to emulate, to reap similar benefits in schools locally.
As part of the stricter guidelines, the ministry also announced that students’ personal learning devices will be locked from 10:30PM onwards starting next year. At current, these devices – which are school sanctioned devices consisting mostly of iPads or Chromebooks, with device management apps managed by the school – lock at 11PM.
(Source: The Straits Times)