Hungarian Conservative

The need to regulate mobile phone use has become evident based on experiences from recent years, as excessive use has been shown to significantly hinder children’s academic performance and negatively impact their physical and mental well-being.

The government decree limiting mobile phone use in schools was issued in early August and will take effect in September. According to a recent survey published on Wednesday, an overwhelming majority of Hungarians, 85 per cent, support the ban.

Banning phones is not the ideal step, but it is necessary. Ideally, children would receive their own devices later, learn when and how to use them, how to verify information found online, and spend their free time during their most formative years on activities that build and develop them, contributing positively to their personal growth and making them better people, Enikő Szakos, Educational Researcher at the MCC Learning Research Institute underscores.

According to Interior Ministry State Secretary Bence Rétvári announced in a Facebook post that the government has put forward a draft regulation for public consultation regarding items that cannot be brought into schools or can only be brought in with restrictions.

The new law was adopted on Tuesday, with restrictions coming into force in Hungarian schools as of 1 September. The legislation has created a unified regulation regarding items that cannot be brought onto school premises and those that can be brought in but whose use is restricted. The range of items in question will be regulated by a subsequent decree, but the law primarily concerns smart devices and mobile phones.