Overview
- The restriction published by the Secretaría de Educación Pública enters into force for initial, pre‑school, primary and secondary education on Tuesday, November 3, 2026, and covers public and private schools nationwide.
- Students must keep phones and personal electronic devices unused during the school day except for programmed classroom activities and narrowly defined exceptions for emergencies, disability, health or extraordinary community needs.
- The agreement does not set a single national penalty and gives states 180 days to issue harmonizing rules, so schools must build local protocols for custody of devices, exceptions and enforcement.
- Practical problems raised by principals and parents include reluctance of schools to take physical custody of phones, unclear single procedures for emergency family contact, and resistance from some families who use phones as their main way to reach children.
- Some states and schools are already adopting measures to fill gaps, for example Guanajuato plans parental responsivas, Aguascalientes will prioritize school landlines for emergencies and several schools that had earlier bans will continue local enforcement, while the SEP runs outreach campaigns and cites consultations with hundreds of thousands of teachers.