Mobile phones prohibited in UAE schools: Here is everything you need to know

Any phone detected in the possession of a student within school premises will be confiscated. (Photo: Pexels)

The United Arab Emirates Ministry of Education has come out with a prohibition on mobile phones within school compounds.

The ban, according to the Ministry, is to guard students from the potential dangers of carrying phones and encourage good behaviour in a secure learning environment.

Schools must confiscate phones

The Ministry also provided guidelines to schools for inspection and confiscation of phones in possession of students.

"Schools must conduct routine inspection campaigns to identify mobile phones. The inspections have to follow the law and be respectful of students' rights. Inspectors cannot touch students; they can only search their bags and personal effects, and students themselves have to present their items to the inspection committee in order to be transparent and respect rights," the school circular stated. 

Parents to be notified

As stated by the Ministry, in case a phone is found in the possession of a student on school premises, it will be seized and the parents alerted to the offense. Parents are also required to sign the official documents attesting to the seizure and return of the phone.

For the first offence by a student, the phone will be taken away for one month, and for repetition, the phone will be taken away until the end of the academic year.

Schools must create awareness

Along with the steps, schools have been instructed to increase awareness programs among students and parents, in particular, regarding confiscation periods and disciplinary actions.

It also threatened schools that non-compliance with these directives is an administrative offense that can expose them to accountability.

Mobile phones are also prohibited in private schools

Although the Ministry of Education directive is for public schools, a number of private schools in the UAE have also issued a similar ban on mobile phones for students.

Dubai-based Emirates International School (EIS) has imposed a ban on the usage of mobile phones within the classroom from this academic term. 

"Students will be required to hand over their phones to the management or refrain from bringing them to school. This (usage of mobile phones) will not be permitted at all until they complete their classes, then retrieve them," Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, owner of EIS, said.