A for effort: First year of cellphone bans in Canadian schools gets mostly positive marks [Video]

Sixteen-year-old Roha Akram was skeptical when teachers in Calgary announced a cellphone ban during the first assembly of the school year.

“I was like, ‘No one’s going to follow this,”‘ the Grade 11 student recalled of the change in September.

“It’s just the nature of teenagers. We don’t like rules.”

Teachers didn’t want to see phones on desks or in pockets, Akram added. “They wanted it in the backpack, in the locker, in the car.”

She said the ban has been good for some students, who just need a reminder to focus in class, particularly when teachers are speaking. But others have struggled.

One teacher took a phone away from a boy who was really attached to his device, she said. “He started acting crazy. He went around asking everyone, ‘Can I use your phone? Can I use your phone? I need to go on Instagram.’

“I saw phones are kind of becoming an addiction.”

Last fall, most provinces …