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School screen time capped as students go back to basics
The policy sets grade-based caps and cites OECD data showing Australian students are nearly twice as likely to spend more than two hours daily on school devices.
On Sunday, NSW Education Minister Prue Car announced strict daily screen time caps for public schools, limiting usage to 15 minutes for kindergarten to Year 2 to arrest declining reading and writing standards.
Growing public pressure from the Heads Up Alliance, whose petition surpassed 28,000 signatures, prompted the intervention following Programme for International Student Assessment results showing nearly a quarter of NSW students classified as "low performers" in maths.
Under the new guidelines, schools must mandate at least one hour of daily pen-and-paper learning, while government research found half of surveyed students reported screen distractions in classrooms.
The directive will be introduced next year before becoming mandatory in 2028, with exemptions remaining for students with disabilities, non-English backgrounds, or personalised learning plans.
These changes build on the 2023 public school mobile phone ban; Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car noted screens should not be the default, reflecting broader efforts to restore student focus.
In an effort to reverse the continued decline in student performance, the New South Wales government has decided to push for a "back-to-books" reform of teaching methods—limiting the time students spend using electronic devices in the classroom, with some lower-grade students spending a maximum of 15 minutes a day on online learning.