Overview
- The Secretaría de Educación Pública's regulation formally took effect on Tuesday, November 3, restricting student use of cellphones and personal electronic devices during the full school day in educación básica.
- The ban covers initial, preescolar, primaria and secundaria in both public and private schools and explicitly includes recess and other breaks unless an exception applies.
- The rule allows limited exceptions for planned classroom activities, personal emergencies, health needs, disability or accessibility, and grants each school options such as keeping devices stored, depositing them in a designated space, limiting use by time or area, or banning use for the whole day.
- School leaders and teachers have flagged enforcement gaps because the agreement does not require staff to act as device custodians and offers no single national sanctioning regime, prompting some states to ask parents to sign responsivas or issue local guidance.
- The policy applies at scale to the national system that serves tens of millions of students and millions of teachers, will be reviewed each semester by the SEP, and could reshape family‑school communication and classroom routines, especially for students with special needs.