“We are left with the clear idea that the Ministry will not follow this line, which is a shame”, lamented Mónica Pereira, in statements to the Lusa news agency at the end of a meeting at the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI).

At the meeting, which was attended by the Deputy Secretary of State for Education, Alexandre Homem Cristo, the Less Screens, More Life movement advocated banning smartphones in all schools, a decision that is currently in the hands of principals.

“The student statute states that it is forbidden to take and share images, but this is not practiced,” said Mónica Pereira, who believes that, rather than changing the regulations of each school to limit the use of mobile phones, it would be necessary to review the student statute in this regard.

Last year, the former Minister of Education, João Costa, asked the School Council for an opinion on the matter and, at the time, the directors understood that the solution to respond to the negative impacts of the use of mobile phones in a school context did not involve banning their use, arguing that the groups themselves should decide.

According to the movement’s spokesperson, the MECI will now create informative guides for schools, but despite acknowledging the importance of information and awareness campaigns, she believes that this is not enough.

The ministry’s position on digital school textbooks is also insufficient, adds Mónica Pereira.

In August, the Ministry of Education and Culture announced that the pilot project would continue in the next school year, but that an impact assessment of the measure would be carried out to decide whether it would continue from 2025/2026 onwards.

For now, the fifth phase of the project will maintain the same format for students in the 2nd and 3rd cycles, with the possibility of new classes joining the digital textbooks, but no new classes in the 1st cycle or secondary education will be included.

“It falls far short of what we are asking for and what is practiced in other countries”, stressed the spokesperson, who anticipates that the results of the impact assessment will reflect the positions that have been shared by many parents and teachers.

In May, a survey carried out by the movement revealed that more than four out of every five guardians are dissatisfied and advocate ending the initiative.

Among the 462 responses, 90% of parents said they preferred paper books because they allowed students to concentrate more, while only 8% preferred digital textbooks. Almost a third continued to buy paper textbooks, despite the transition.

Last year, digital textbooks reached 24,011 students, the majority in the 3rd cycle (46.8%), followed by the 2nd cycle (28.5%), secondary (16.3%) and 3rd and 4th years (8.4%), according to data from the Directorate-General for Education.

This was the year with the most participation in the pilot project that began in 2020/2021, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, with around a thousand students in nine schools.