New Ontario cellphone rules in place as school starts. What to know [Video]

New rules that ban the use of cellphones in class are taking effect at schools across Ontario this week, but critics say they’re unsure how the regulations will be enforced or how effective they will be.

In April, the Ontario government announced a plan to standardize measures on cellphone use in classrooms, saying it wanted to remove distractions from learning time.

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While the province had already put in certain restrictions on cellphones in 2019, the new rules set more specific guidelines that are broken down by grade.

Starting next week, students in kindergarten to Grade 6 must keep cellphones on silent and out of sight for the entire school day. For students in Grade 7 to Grade 12, cellphones cannot be used during class time. The province has said cellphones may only be used if permitted by an educator, or if students have special education or medical needs.

While the …