Kazakhstan likely to prohibit use of smartphones at schools

According to Majilis deputy Askhat Aimagambetov, many leading schools, such as Bilim [Bilim-Innovation Boarding Lyceum - edit] and Nazarbayev Intellectual Schools, have already prohibited the use of smartphones by students during classes.

“The learning process should be in focus. When students come to school, they can leave their phones there and collect them after classes, or use basic feature phones. For this reason, there is a proposal to transfer the authority to ban or restrict smartphone use from schools to the Ministry, allowing the decision to be made centrally,” Aimagambetov said.

The deputy added that not all school principals can independently take a decision to introduce such restrictions, because of parents and other factors.

He was asked how school students would pay for lunch.

“I have raised this issue and proposed an amendment to allow, for example, POS terminals so that payments can be made in other ways - not necessarily via QR codes. I believe our colleagues will review all of these matters,” he noted.

Earlier, Qazinform reported that South Korea banned smartphones in schools from 2026.