England Urged to Reduce Classroom Screen Use Over Health Risks

What changed

More than 150 clinicians have urged England’s education and health secretaries to reduce classroom screen use, warning it may harm children’s physical and developmental health. They say nearly one million children use screens in most lessons and that schools may be worsening problems involving eyesight, hearing and speech.

The government is developing screen-time guidance for children aged five to 18 and says technology can support learning when used properly.

Why it matters

This puts a practical question in front of schools: when does a useful digital tool become the default setting for the whole school day?

The clinicians point to an analysis of 276 studies involving 5.4 million people worldwide. It reported that short-sightedness among children and adolescents rose from about 24% in 1990 to almost 36% in 2023. Classroom screens cannot be blamed for that rise alone, but the broader warning is clear enough: children need time away from screens for sleep, rest, movement and ordinary face-to-face learning.

That matters especially for children with special educational needs, whom the clinicians say are disproportionately directed towards screen-based learning. Technology may help some pupils and free teachers to teach, but it should not quietly become the only route to support.

England’s smartphone ban in schools, which began in June, addressed phones. The next debate is wider: how much screen use schools choose to build into lessons, and whether that choice comes with meaningful alternatives.