Long championed as a leader in adopting digital technology, Sweden is set to ban mobile phones in schools beginning in the fall for the next academic year as part of a broad, international reversal on the use of screens in classrooms.
Since 2023, the Scandinavian country’s center-right coalition government has pursued a policy prioritizing more reading time and less screen time, particularly among preschool students, by favoring books and other traditional learning tools.
Lawmaker Joar Forsell, chairperson of the Swedish parliament’s education committee, said officials have seen a decline in the general ability to read and write in Sweden, especially among younger students.
