A blanket, legal ban on smartphones in secondary schools is not a solution in the view of the responsible ministers from Thuringia, Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. The CDU politicians said this during a cross-state exchange in Erfurt on Friday. "We are not interested in debating bans, we are really interested in usage guidelines," said Thuringia's Education Minister Christian Tischner (CDU). Private cell phone use in schools should not take place. "But I don't think the how should be decided in the minister's office, it should be decided with the local school conferences," Tischner continued.
Saxony-Anhalt Education Minister Jan Riedel (CDU), who headed a grammar school in Halle until the summer, sees the schools in a field of tension. It must be recognized "that this is part of our current and modern way of life and, on the other hand, that it must be handled responsibly." The state must provide the framework and guidelines on the basis of which schools can negotiate solutions locally.
