UNESCO Urges Mexico to Pair School Phone Rules With Digital Literacy and Inclusion

Morales welcomed the agreement between SEP and the National Council of Education Authorities (Conaedu) to regulate mobile devices in schools according to students’ ages and education levels.

Rules governing digital platforms and devices in Mexico need more than restrictions to make technology work for students, UNESCO has said, calling for stronger literacy, careful evaluation and attention to children who depend on digital tools to access education. Speaking at the South-Central Regional Forum "La vida frente a la pantalla" (Life in Front of the Screen), Andrés Morales, UNESCO's representative in Mexico, said technology must support education rights and be educationally useful and ethically responsible. The event was the sixth forum led by Mexico's Ministry of Public Education (SEP).

School Phone Rules Must Leave Room for Inclusion

Morales welcomed the agreement between SEP and the National Council of Education Authorities (Conaedu) to regulate mobile devices in schools according to students' ages and education levels. He said the approach could better account for technology's role in inclusion, including support for students with disabilities or learning barriers, children unable to attend regularly, and teaching in Indigenous languages. The Incheon Declaration and UNESCO's 2023 Global Education Monitoring Report recognise these opportunities alongside the need to reduce risks.

Mexico's telesecundarias, which deliver junior-high education through television, show that screens have already helped widen access to learning. UNESCO described them as a backbone of education in 60% of state schools, citing an average increase of 0.2 years of schooling for each additional telesecundaria per 1,000 adolescents. Their experience highlights why decisions about technology need to consider who benefits from it, not just the problems associated with its use.

Digital Skills Alone Cannot Close the Literacy Gap

Morales said UNESCO would continue supporting Mexico and SEP, stressing the need for digital, algorithmic, media and information literacy to help society understand how technologies and platforms operate and influence people. National regulations on school mobile-phone use exist in 114 education systems, or 58% worldwide, compared with 84 of 194 countries, or 43%, that have incorporated UNESCO-defined media and information literacy into formal national curricula.

Only 17 countries have substantive, stand-alone and far-reaching policies in this field, and 56 countries, or 29%, have limited their curricular integration to digital literacy. In Latin America and the Caribbean, 13 of 33 countries have included media and information literacy in their curricula. UNESCO linked the need for broader learning to challenges such as online disinformation, whose impact concerns 85% of citizens worldwide.

Stronger Learning Requires More Than Screen Restrictions

School communities need support to document, organise, monitor and evaluate their experiences so they can identify what works and what needs changing, Morales said. He stressed that restricting classroom phone use cannot, on its own, restore or improve learning, welcoming SEP's emphasis on reading and writing as foundations for other skills.

During the opening panel, Rosa Wolpert highlighted activities that should not be handed over to technology or automation: reading, writing, reasoning, memory, play, hands-on and collaborative work, and conflict resolution inside and outside school. Strengthening these experiences from early childhood helps children gradually build autonomy and self-regulation, placing their development at the centre of decisions about digital devices.

UNESCO's practical resources include the Readiness Assessment Methodology and Ethical Impact Assessment, designed to support ethical technology governance and reduce risks in specific artificial intelligence systems. Its family guide, Growing up in a connected world, brings the discussion into the home with advice on managing screen time, developing critical thinking and protecting children against digital violence.