As of 1 September, students of Polish primary schools will no longer take the smartphone into their hands in the facility – neither during lessons nor during breaks. The bill has already been signed by the President. This decision, which the Centre of Life and household called for as 1 of the first in Poland 3 years ago. We're glad it's yet happening. But we can't pretend we don't see how it happened.
Three years of waiting
We started the School without Smartphones run at a time erstwhile the subject of children's restrictions on access to telephones at school aroused at most a shrug among politicians. The United Right Government did not see an urgent request in this. 1 could hope that changing power would besides bring a change of approach – the fresh management of the Ministry of National Education actually declared interest in the subject, but for a long time ended with declarations. erstwhile experts, parents and teachers increasingly said that systemic solutions were needed, Minister Barbara Nowacka replied that Polish schools were "not ready for this", and the existing solutions – i.e. provisions in the statutes of individual institutions – were sufficient.
Except these records didn't work in practice. As shown by the Polish survey “EU Kids Online 2018”, more than half of the students (51.7%) indicated that teachers had established rules for utilizing telephones at school. But only 27 percent of the students responded that teachers were even checking whether the phones were off, and 1 5th – that whoever confiscated them for it. The teachers did not have any real tools to enforce the bans, and the removal of a telephone student could have threatened them with a charge of violating his rights. The statutory "regulation" was so in practice a fiction – and we knew this very well, repeating it for years in our appeals and educational materials.
What has changed – and why now
The impulse for a real change came not from the Cabinet Minister of Education, but from the presidential campaign. It was the talker of the Sejm Simon Hołownia who banned smartphones in schools from 1 of the flagship demands of his candidacy, recalling examples of another countries and asking why Poland inactive cannot introduce a solution that has worked elsewhere for years. It was only erstwhile the subject began to live his life in public debate that the Ministry of Education accelerated. In March 2026, Minister Nowacka announced that the MEN was completing its work on the regulations – and she described the decision as “accelerated” after talking to Prime Minister Donald Tuski. In June, the government adopted a draft amendment of the Act – Educational Law, and in July the president signed it.
It is hard to give a more clear signal that we are talking about political calculation, not about the abrupt discovery of a problem that has been describing statistic for years. Diagnosis prepared on behalf of MEN itself – "Youth Diagnosis 2026" – says directly: 71% of teenagers think they are addicted to telephones, 60% feel chronic fatigue, 73 percent of children aged 12-14 know where to find pornography on the Internet, and 26 percent of children between 7 and 12 years of age had contact with it. These data were not created in March 2026 – the problem grew for years. There was only no political will to respond to him until individual the ruling coalition present would alternatively not praise.
Good decision, bad motivation
We do not hide the satisfaction of the fact itself – this is precisely what we called for. From 1 September, primary school students will not be able to usage mobile phones and another devices that enable communication at a distance, either within the school or during educational activities organised outside the school – for example on teaching trips or lessons conducted on external facilities. Schools have until 31 October to adapt their statutes. This is simply a step in the right direction and a real protection for children from what we have described in our materials for years: a digital addiction that takes distant their concentration, relationships with their peers, and sometimes and intellectual health.
The problem is that decisions on the safety and improvement of children should not wait until they become a convenient subject for the campaign. They should be due to a reliable recognition of threats and be taken even if they do not bring political benefits – not only if the subject is raised by individual else and the communicative needs to be caught up. American social scientist Jonathan Haidt, 1 of the leading researchers of social media influence on youth, convinces that the spread of smartphones has taken the full generation distant from childhood. It is hard to have a clearer summary of what is truly at stake and why 3 years of hold is 3 years besides many.
What's next?
For now, only primary schools will be banned – in advanced schools and techniques, the statutes of individual institutions will inactive be decided on the rules of usage of telephones, which means a solution that has proved to be ineffective once. We will guarantee that the fresh rules are not in practice blurry as erstwhile statutory provisions, and that the next step – alternatively of the next election run – becomes a real, systemic protection of children from the dangers of the digital world, not just in the school bench.
One can only be glad that our voice – supported by nearly 20,000 Poles who signed the petition “School free of smartphones” – yet found a response. Today, changes are besides thanks to you! Now it remains to remind us of this and to proceed to call for good changes in the protection of the youngest, due to the fact that children deserve their safety not to depend on the electoral calendar.
Aleksandra Gajek
Cover photograph source: IStock
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