Should cellphones be allowed in classrooms?

Editor's note: Starting from Nov 1, primary and middle school students in Shandong province will not be allowed to use cellphones or tablets in classrooms, according to a new regulation. There has been significant growth in the use of mobile phones and statistics show that 68.1 percent of Chinese primary and middle school students own a smartphone. Forum readers share their opinions.

angus (UK)

I am a teacher, and my students are not allowed to use phones in my class. They know I will take it from them and they will have to collect it at the end of the lesson. I have heard so many reasons given for using phones in class I could write an essay.

No phone should be allowed in class. Teachers who allow this are lazy teachers who do not work with their students as a collective group, because that takes effort and proper classroom management. There is no tenable reason for a student to be using a phone in the classroom.