Overview
- The national agreement, reached Friday, Sept. 18, directs that cellphones be restricted during the full school day in all primary and secondary schools starting in October 2026.
- Education authorities said the policy was adopted unanimously by the Consejo Nacional de Autoridades Educativas and will set different rules for upper‑secondary schools and universities to be decided at the local or institutional level.
- The federal government will roll out the mental‑health program El ABC de las Emociones, run a public information campaign, hold school assemblies and distribute more than 16 million guidance booklets to teachers, students and families.
- Key operational details on storage, supervision, emergency exceptions and sanctions remain under development and will be drafted with teachers, parents and state education secretariats through regional forums and local protocols.
- Officials tied the move to PISA/OECD findings about weak reading and attention in Mexican students while OECD representatives cautioned that screens are not harmful by themselves and that harms depend on how devices are used.