Overview

• From the 2025/26 school year Brandenburg’s education ministry will require students in grades one through six to switch off and stow private digital devices during lessons
• The ban covers smartphones, tablets, smartwatches and similar gadgets, which must be kept in bags, lockers or cabinets throughout class time
• Teachers retain the authority to permit device use when essential for instruction or for medical purposes such as diabetes management
• Berlin’s Education Senator Katharina Günther-Wünsch warned against a one-size-fits-all approach, stressing that individual schools should set their own mobile phone policies
• The GEW Brandenburg union praised the clarity of a uniform rule but cautioned that the focus on phones risks diverting attention from more pressing educational reforms