Finnish Students Go Back to School with Books, Not Screens

01This autumn, students in the Finnish town of Rihimeki headed back to school with backpacks full of books.

02This marks a change from recent years.

03For the past ten years, the Finnish government pushed laptops and other electronic devices in the classroom.

04Finland's public education system is known for its good results and its readiness to try new teaching methods.

05Until recently, many schools gave laptops for free to all students from as early as age 11.

06But Finnish parents and teachers have become increasingly concerned over the effect of screens on children.

07Rihimeki is a town of about 30,000 people.

08It sits 70 kilometers north of the capital, Helsinki.

09In 2018, the town's middle schools stopped using most books.

10But this school year, schools in Rihimeki are going back to pen and paper.

11Young people are using phones and digital devices so much these days that we don't want school to be one of the places where children are only staring at screens, said Maya Kauninen, an English teacher at Poh Yolan Renee Middle School.

12The distractions that come with the use of digital devices make many children restless and unable to give their full attention to learning, Kauninen said.

13She added, Most students just did the exercises as quick as they could, so they could then move on to using social media.

14And it took them no time at all to change tabs in the browser.

15So, when the teacher came round to them, they could say, Yes, I was doing this exercise.

16Across Finland, children's learning results have been slowly getting worse in recent years.

17In answer, the government plans new laws to ban the use of personal devices such as phones during school hours to cut back on screen time.

18One of Kauninen's students is 14-year-old Elle Soka.

19She said she did not always pay attention to the school subjects when learning digitally.

20Instead, she moved to another web page.

21Eighth graders Mikko Mantila and Inka Vada, both 14, said their concentration has improved since books returned to the classrooms.

22Reading for one is much easier, and I can read much faster from books, Mantila said.

23And if you have to do homework late at night, it's easier to go to sleep when you haven't just been looking at a device, Vada added.

24Mina Peltapuro is a psychologist working with the town on the change.

25She said the total screen time should be cut because Finnish teenagers currently stare at a screen for up to six hours each day on average.

26She added that too much use of electronic devices comes with both physical and mental risks, such as eye problems and growing anxiety.

27Peltapuro added that the brain is at risk when trying to do more than one thing at a time.

28Especially at a young age, one cannot manage it well, she said.

29I'm Jill Robbins.

30I'm Jill Robbins.

31I'm Jill Robbins.

32I'm Jill Robbins.

33I'm Jill Robbins.