Schools should ban smartphones to crackdown on upskirting, MPs told

Schools should ban smartphones to crackdown on upskirting and damage done by children watching online pornography, campaigners tell MPs

• Phones should be banned from schools to crackdown on upskirting MPs told 

Phones should be banned from schools in a bid to crackdown on upskirting and the damage done from children watching pornography, campaigners have said. 

Schools were also urged to do more to educate both pupils and parents on the dangers of watching pornography and its links to violence against women and girls. 

Lucy Marsh from the Family Education Trust charity told MPs that more needed to be done to reduce children’s exposure to online pornography.

Speaking at the Commons Women and Equalities Committee she said: ‘Until we actually address the fact that children are watching porn, we’re never going to solve the problem of violence against women because while children have got access to smartphones they are going to be able to view it.

‘I think really we need to be looking at should children have access to smartphones and should they be in schools for that? For that I would say the answer is no. I don’t think smartphones should be in schools.

Smartphones should be banned in school to stop upskirting and reduce the damage done to children by watching pornography online, MPs have been told (file photo of teenagers texting)

‘I think that actually we should look at completely banning children having them [smartphones] in school because that would solve some of the problems of things like children being filmed getting changed or being filmed in toilets or upskirting, and things like that, that would solve some of it.’

The comments come days after Dame Rachel de Souza, the Children’s Commissioner for England, called for more robust online protections for children.

Its research found that that acts of sexual violence commonly found in pornography were referenced in half of police interview transcripts of child-on-child sex abuse cases.

Dame de Souza said its report, published this week, said further review of some of the cases found children suggesting direct links between exposure to pornography and harmful sexual behaviour.

When asked whether the current Relationships, Sex and Health Education (RSHE) curriculum does enough to help tackle misogyny and violence against women and girls, Ms Marsh said: ‘Not at all. We’re seeing huge damage being done with children watching porn.’

She told the Women and Equalities Committee: ‘I think that schools are not addressing the fact that the harm that this does to children in being able to form healthy relationships when they’re adults.’

The campaigner suggested schools hold sessions for parents on the ‘dangers’ of porn, adding that some are ‘probably in denial that their children aren’t looking at this’. 

Tanya Carter, from campaign group Safe Schools Alliance UK, also called on schools to educate parents about ‘the sheer volume of pornography online’.

The comments come days after Dame Rachel de Souza (pictured), the Children’s Commissioner for England, called for more robust online protections for children

She told MPs yesterday: ‘At Safe Schools we think smartphones absolutely should not be in schools.

‘Once you’ve got smartphones in schools, every child in that school is only as protected as the least protected child in that school.

‘It doesn’t matter what controls you’ve got on your own child’s smartphone, if another child in that school has no controls on their phone your child can be exposed to hardcore porn at lunchtime.’

In March, Rishi Sunak announced that the Government would bring forward a review of RSHE in schools.

It came after Conservative MP Miriam Cates claimed some pupils have been subjected to relationships and sex education classes that are ‘age-inappropriate, extreme, sexualising and inaccurate’.

During the committee, Ms Carter called for a ‘public inquiry’ into the situation as she said the campaign group had heard from ‘lots of parents’ who cannot get access to teaching materials on the RSHE curriculum.

She added: ‘Absolutely we want children to have education that benefits them, but some of the materials we’ve seen it’s really not beneficial to children.’

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