SERBIA INTRODUCES A COMPLETE BAN ON PHONES IN SCHOOLS: See everything the new law foresees and what the fines are for pupils, parents, and teachers!

While public debate on banning mobile phones in Serbian schools has been going on for months, few have seen the actual text of the regulation that is supposed to govern the issue. The draft version of the Law on the Prohibition of the Use of Mobile Phones in Primary and Secondary Schools, prepared by Ombudsman Zoran Pašalić, reveals that it is not a simple prohibition, but an elaborated administrative system with records, procedures, and fines – for schools, parents, and pupils themselves alike.

Who is covered by the prohibition system

The law applies to all primary and secondary schools founded by the Republic of Serbia, an autonomous province, or a local self-government unit – meaning the entire public education system. The use of personal mobile phones is prohibited, and the minister in charge of education is given the authority to prescribe a list of “similar devices” whose use would also be prohibited, likely referring to smartwatches and tablets.

An exception exists only for pupils who need a phone for health reasons. Upon a request by parents or a legal representative, the school principal decides on this, and a pupil granted permission to use a phone must not lend it to other pupils.

Handing over phones as a daily ritual

The core of the law is a procedure that would be repeated every school day. Pupils would have to hand over their phones to an authorized person as soon as they enter the school building or at a location designated by the principal. Phones would be kept sorted by classes and returned only after the end of classes.

The law also foresees what happens if a pupil refuses to hand over a phone, lies about their identity, or leaves the handover location without submitting the device – the authorized person writes this into a special spreadsheet and immediately notifies school security, which removes the pupil from the school and reports to the principal. If the pupil still shows up on the same day and repents, missed classes are not counted as unexcused absences.

A mechanism for emergency situations is also provided: if a pupil during the day learns of a serious reason to contact parents, a brother, sister, grandfather, or grandmother, they can submit a written request to the teacher currently conducting the class (or the one conducting the next class, if it is break time), and the teacher manually approves or rejects that request.

Fines – from pupils to the school

The law introduces educational-disciplinary proceedings against a pupil who refuses to hand over a phone, lies about identity, falsifies a teacher’s signature on a request for temporary return of the phone, or is simply found with a phone in the school building.

Fines, however, affect a wider circle of people:

– a school that does not keep prescribed records or keeps them contrary to the law – from 100,000 to 1,000,000 dinars;

– a parent or legal representative who refuses cooperation with the authorized person or does not repent on the same day – from 10,000 to 100,000 dinars;

– an individual who unauthorizedly claims to be a pupil of a specific school – from 10,000 to 100,000 dinars;

– an individual who enables a pupil to possess a phone in the school building or in another place belonging to the school – from 10,000 to 100,000 dinars.

The law also repeals part of the existing Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System, which had until now left that decision to the schools themselves, as well as the Guidelines developed for that purpose by the Institute for Education Quality and Evaluation. The regulation is expected to come into force on the day following its publication in the “Official Gazette”, and start applying 20 days later, while the minister of education would have to issue accompanying bylaws within 8 to 15 days.

What the pupils themselves say

At the consultations attended, in addition to the ombudsman, by parents, teachers, principals, psychologists, and lawyers, pupils surprised organizers with their numbers and engagement. Students generally agree that phones disrupt classes, but oppose a complete ban during breaks – some of them emphasize that a phone is their only way to connect with peers if they do not socialize with anyone during breaks. Representatives of the Union of Secondary School Students also warn of a practical problem: in schools with several hundred pupils, the daily collection and return of hundreds of phones could become a logistical chaos. Mentioned as one possible solution are lockable lockers in hallways where pupils would store devices themselves, modeled after the practice of certain European schools.

Parents, on the other hand, worry most about losing the ability to directly contact children during classes. To this, the ombudsman responds that, in case something happens, the school as a responsible institution would inform the parents itself, and that the trust parents show to the school by sending a child to classes should also apply to that segment of the day.

Arguments of the proposer: addiction and drop in concentration

Pašalić justifies the idea of the law by the need to protect children from what he openly calls an addiction illness to mobile phones, warning that excessive use disrupts communication with peers, parents, and teachers, and threatens socialization. At the consultation, data was presented showing that 22 children in Serbia are already being treated for addiction illnesses related to phones, while psychologists warned that the severity of such addiction can be compared only to gambling addiction. On the other hand, some teachers point out that phones are sometimes useful in teaching itself – for searching data or testing knowledge – so Pašalić announces that such use would still be possible, but exclusively with a pre-announced and organized application, rather than at free discretion during class.

Regional and international context

Serbia is not alone in this regard. Croatia introduced a complete ban on mobile phones in primary schools and a partial one in secondary schools at the beginning of March 2026, while the British government announced it will legally ban phones in schools, after earlier reliance on voluntary measures of individual schools was assessed as insufficient. Arguments for restriction rely further on the international 2022 PISA study, according to which longer phone use for recreation during the school day is linked to poorer performance and reduced attention in pupils.

Divided expert public in Serbia

The Union of Education Workers’ Trade Unions of Serbia supports systematic regulation of this issue, but warns that the problem of children’s screen addiction mostly occurs outside school – without any state strategy for that significantly larger part of the day. Critics of the draft, on the other hand, point out that it is not aligned with the valid Education Development Strategy, which treats digital devices also as an auxiliary teaching tool, rather than exclusively as a source of distraction, citing data showing that as many as 52 percent of pupils in Serbia use ICT for school purposes daily, which is above the international average. The question is also raised whether a new law backed by fines is necessary at all, given that the existing Law on the Fundamentals of the Education System already obliges all schools since 2023 to regulate phone use through their own rulebooks.

A final answer to all these questions will come only when – and if – the proposal actually reaches the deputies of the National Assembly, which, according to recent announcements, could happen in the autumn of 2026, with the goal that the new rules take effect from the next school year.