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Isle_of_Man_school_mobile_phone_ban_working_well_says_minister.txt
All-island school phone ban 'working well'4 days agoShareSaveAlex BlakeBBC News,quina conc.4030 Isle of ManShareSavePA MediaPhones have been banned on Isle of Man school premises since September 2024An island-wide phone ban across Isle of Man schools is "working well" after one year in operation, the education minister has said. The Department of Education, Sport and Culture (Desc) introduced an island-wide policy in September last year.Welcoming the change, campaigners Delay Smartphones Isle of Man said it was important for children to experience "natural highs before they live for a like or a comment", and the group intended to gather more "Manx-specific data" on how the policy was going. Desc Minister Daphne Caine said it had proved to be a "popular" policy and there was a "really big conversation" taking place within the community.Caine said head teachers had regular meetings with the senior management team within Desc to monitor the policy's reception, and there would be a two-year review in 2027."I am confident that the heads and all the teaching staff apply it fairly and equitably, I think it's working well," she said."I've not had any negative push-back and in fact it's probably been one of the most popular policies that I've been involved with."Jessica WardMeghan Kennish is hoping to bring parents together with a collective aimThe campaign group Delay Smartphones Isle of Man, which urges parents to delay giving their children smartphones, has formed a working group to collect data specific to the island so that potential harms could be highlighted.Member and mum-of-two Meghan Kennish said: "I want my children to know what they love in real life before they fall in love with a screen."She said she wanted children to "decide what they think is beautiful before they're held to unachievable beauty standards" and "learn how to share their emotions with me before exposing their feelings to faceless people online"."I want them to be bored so they can be imaginative, and I critically don't want them to become dependent," she said.'Peer pressure'Many parents feared saying "no" would exclude their children or single them out, but if everyone took the same stance that would not be an issue, she added.Fellow campaigner Jessica Cross called for more "guidance, help and support" for parents and said the working group would start gathering that information from sources including Manx Care, Public Health and the police.The group would then "hold meetings across the island about smart phones" to discuss the pros and cons, she explained.That would enable them to help "remove the peer pressure from parents to give a smart phone at the age of 12, to an older age" and to also "help validate parents who to delay" them, she added.Read more stories from the Isle of Man on the BBC, watch BBC North West Tonight on BBC iPlayer and follow BBC Isle of Man on Facebook and X.More on this storyMobile phone use set to be banned in Manx schoolsShould schools just say no to pupils using phones?Related internet linksDepartment of Education, Sport and CultureDelay Smartphones - IOMSocial mediaSchoolsMobile phones
