A recent police raid prompted the decision to ban mobile devices in schools. Of the 200 mobile devices seized in the raid, 16 were found to contain pornographic or violent images.
The move by The Bavarian Ministry of Education and Cultural Affairs means that students will have to leave their mobile devices off during school hours, including recess. However, students can still use their phones for emergency calls, if they first get a teacher’s permission.
An all-out ban on phones was nixed because of concerns over the legality of such a proposition.
German politicians had a mixed response to the ban.
According to Markus Soder, secretary-general of the ruling Christian Social Union, the ban is key because it prevents “children from swapping movies of rape and abuse the way they swap images of soccer stars.”
Margarete Bause of the Green Party argued that the ban merely shifts responsibility, saying that children would have the same access during after-school hours.
