A school principal in the UK hopes to introduce a 12-hour day for students in an effort to tackle their “addiction” to smartphones.
The school day at All Saints Catholic College in west London will run from 7am to 7pm under plans by headteacher Andrew O’Neill.
Instead of finishing classes and turning to their phones for hours at home, he wants students to participate in extra-curricular activities, such as drama, basketball, dodgeball, cookery classes and art.
O’Neill was concerned that technology has made young people lazy and anxious, and radical action was needed to break the cycle, reports The Times.
He says he has observed “some of the most shocking things I have ever seen” on devices.
The alarming content included cyberbulllying, sexting and blackmailing of students.
O’Neill’s plan for his 900-student school in the suburb of Notting Hill comes after he banned pupils from carrying phones on their person over worries they ruined social skills.
