XAVIER LISSILLOUR
Upon entering the Lycée Michelet in Vanves, just south of Paris, the problem becomes immediately clear. The school is housed in a long, historic building, set within a 17-hectare wooded park. It welcomes around 2,300 students, from middle school to selective preparatory classes for France’s elite universities. How can a mobile phone ban be enforced in such an expansive setting? Principal Paul Baquiast said he has adopted a “measure tailored to our situation”: since April 2025, phones have been banned not only in classrooms, as was already the case, but also in hallways, stairwells, gym locker rooms and the cafeteria. However, phones remain permitted outdoors. “Otherwise, it would have been impossible,” stressed Laura Penisson, a monitor. The student life team responsible for enforcing the ban includes three senior education advisers and 13 school monitors.
The school’s decision came even before the government’s latest announcements. Education Minister Edouard Geffray has voiced his support for banning mobile phones in high schools, emphasizing that it is “up to the head of the institution to adapt things to the reality of practices and usage, via the school rules,” as he explained on January 3 in an interview with French daily Ouest-France. The issue is now being debated at the national level, with two separate legislative proposals: one from the government and another backed by MPs from President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party. The latter bill, introduced by MP Laure Miller, would ban mobile phones in high schools and social media use for those under 15. It is scheduled for debate in the Assemblée Nationale on January 26.
You have 74.89% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.