Overview
- The SEP published the agreement in the Diario Oficial de la Federación on Sept. 22, which will take effect on Tuesday, Nov. 3 and restricts the use of cellphones and personal electronic devices for students in initial, pre‑school, primary and secondary levels during the full school day.
- The rule covers public and private basic‑education schools and allows narrow exceptions for planned pedagogical activities, emergencies, health needs, disability, accessibility and extraordinary community circumstances.
- The agreement does not impose a single national punishment for violations and instead asks each school community to build formative compliance rules that reflect local needs and contexts.
- School leaders report immediate operational frictions, including parental resistance to keeping phones at home, reluctance by principals to act as custodians of devices and questions about how schools will safely store or monitor phones.
- State education secretariats are launching support campaigns such as reading and play initiatives and the SEP will conduct semestral reviews to monitor how schools apply the rule and its effects on attention, coexistence and student well‑being.