French MPs approve total ban of mobile phone use at schools

The National Assembly on Thursday approved a law to impose a total ban of mobile phone use in the country's primary and middle schools.

With the ruling "Republic On the Move" party dominating the lower house of parliament, the government won lawmakers' green light to implement its proposal to prevent pupils aged 11 to 15 from using mobile phones in schools.

France has already banned phones in classrooms in France. With the new law, pupils will be barred from taking them out at breaks, lunch times and between lessons.

The ban on mobiles in schools, one of President Emmanuel Macron's campaign promises, will take effect in September 2018.

"It's a law for the 21st century, a law for addressing the digital revolution," Education Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer told lawmakers.

"It's a signal to French society of the stakes for our society. Being open to technologies of the future doesn't mean we have to accept all their uses," he said.