Student cellphone ban to be lifted in Toronto

A Toronto District School Board ban on the use of cellphones and other personal electronic devices in classrooms and hallways will be eliminated in September.

Early Thursday, the school board voted to lift the four-year-old ban; however, it will remain in effect for the remainder of the current school year.

The ban was implemented in 2007 after trustees voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion to ban cellphones once students enter a school building. At the time it was argued the devices caused disruptions in class, distracted students and allowed them to cheat by accessing the internet on their phones.

A pair of TDSB student trustees argued that technology has become such a pervasive part of student life that it no longer makes sense to ban electronic devices in the place where students spend most of their day.

The student trustees said it wouldn't be a free-for-all and that teachers should have the ultimate say on whether the cellphones would be allowed in classrooms.

"When we are living in an increasingly interconnected society [that] banning laptops, banning cameras, banning cellphones things that can be very positive when the teacher has control over them just really doesn't make sense anymore," said Zane Schwartz, one of the student trustees.