‘Distracting’ Mobile Phones to Be Banned in Schools but Unions Doubt It Is Enforceable

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan told the Conservative Party Conference she will ban the use of mobile phones in schools in England.

A pupil uses his mobile phone for research during an English lesson at the Ridings Federation Winterbourne International Academy in Winterbourne near Bristol, England, on Feb. 26, 2015. Matt Cardy/Getty Images

Education Secretary Gillian Keegan has set out plans to ban children from using mobile phones in school, saying they are to blame for “distraction, disruption, and bullying.”

But the proposed blanket ban on pupils using mobile phones in schools across England was immediately criticised by the leader of one of the big teaching unions who said it “could cause more problems than it solves.”