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Cell phone rules for schools: Lower Saxony and Hamburg are taking a new approach!
Lower Saxony and Hamburg are developing new rules for cell phone use in schools in order to safely integrate digital devices.
Cell phone rules for schools: Lower Saxony and Hamburg are taking a new approach!
Today, November 13, 2025, Lower Saxony and Hamburg launched a joint initiative for the use of cell phones in schools. The focus is on a set of rules that are intended to support schools without resorting to blanket bans. Instead, educational institutions receive a handy guide that was developed in collaboration with scientific experts. Details of these new regulations will be presented on Thursday afternoon World reported.
The Lower Saxony Ministry of Culture emphasizes that advancing digitalization is fundamentally changing our school life. Smartphones and smartwatches pose particular challenges. Education Minister Julia Willie Hamburg (Greens) has made it clear that cell phones should not be allowed in primary schools. However, in Lower Saxony and Hamburg there is no general ban on cell phones. Instead, the new recommendations are deliberately kept flexible in order to support schools in making their own decisions about how to use digital devices.
Flexible regulations for schools
There are currently no uniform regulations for the use of cell phones in schools in both federal states. Each school can therefore decide individually how to deal with this issue. However, this extensive freedom also means that some schools actively integrate cell phones into lessons, while others strictly ban them. When asked how schools deal with this challenge, Hamburg's Education Senator Ksenija Bekeris (SPD) and Lower Saxony's Education Minister Julia Willie Hamburg formulated their new recommendations, which will be presented on Thursday at 12.30 p.m. in Hanover NDR supplemented.
There are also voices from scientists who point out that a simple ban is not enough to reduce distractions caused by smartphones. A study from England found that students in schools with cell phone bans performed better - especially lower-performing students. But these findings are not without controversy. In Sweden, researchers came to the conclusion in 2019 that a cell phone ban is inefficient due, among other things, to digitalization in teaching. According to a current review, the data on the topic is inconsistent: some studies show positive effects, while others were unable to find any significant connections between cell phone bans and school success, reports das German school portal.
Although the CDU in Lower Saxony is calling for the discussion about a blanket ban on cell phones, there are no clear bans in both countries for the time being. Instead, schools are asked to consult internally and make decisions within a year. The initiative from Hamburg and Lower Saxony stands out because they are the only two federal states that exchange and cooperate so intensively on this matter.
The coming hours could be crucial for the future framework conditions at schools in Lower Saxony and Hamburg when the new regulations are presented. It remains to be seen how schools and teachers react to the recommendations and to what extent they can integrate them into their everyday lives.