U.K. Minister Wants to Reduce iPad Use in Schools to Curb Bullying

Schools in the U.K. should reduce the use of iPads during lessons because some children are using them to bully and harass others, according to a government minister (via The Telegraph).

Edward Timpson, the Minister for Children and Families, claimed a number of schools were letting children spend too much time using iPads and said that headteachers should use their powers to confiscate them if they are being used "inappropriately".

Timpson told peers on the House of Lords Communications Committee:

"A problem in a number of schools which we've sought to address is the iPad or the tablet coming into schools and it forming far too much of the school day's activities of children and it being used inappropriately for some of the bullying and harassment that we know sadly goes on the back of it.

"That's why we've strengthen the powers of headteachers to confiscate and remove material and so on."

Timpson argued for a "technology balance" to ensure that teachers still interact with pupils and avoid a "battleground" between children and their tablets.

"Children will be spending more of their life living through a tablet. It is the direction we now know is going to be taking hold for the foreseeable future and we have to respond to that," he said.

Over 90 percent of U.K. teenagers have mobile phones, according to The Telegraph. Meanwhile, a study by the London School of Economics found that an outright ban on the devices in schools saw test scores rise by an average 6 percent.

In England, there is no government policy on the use of mobile phones in schools, which are left to set any restrictions themselves.