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Slovenia's School Phone Ban: What Schools Need to Know in 2026
Yes, in primary schools. Since September 2025, Slovenia's Primary School Act bans pupils from using phones and other electronic devices in lessons and breaks, unless needed for teaching or health. Secondary schools set their own rules.
An amendment to the Primary School Act (Zakon o osnovni šoli) replaced school-by-school rules with a general ban from the 2025/26 school year. Pupils may use electronic devices during educational activities only when needed for teaching under the school's annual work plan, and phones are not allowed during breaks. Health needs are an exemption. The rule applies to all primary schools. Secondary schools are not covered and set their own rules.
The National Assembly passed the amendment in 2025 with 55 votes in favour and none against. Schools had to update their internal rules before 1 September 2025. The same law made computing and digital technology a compulsory subject, introduced an educational warning as a disciplinary step, and tightened parents' duties on absence reporting. We found no planned change to the phone rule for 2026/27.
Each primary school sets where phones are kept, how devices are temporarily taken away and how they are returned to parents. Schools use different methods, such as phones switched off in bags, or special lockers or boxes. Teachers decide when a device is needed for a lesson. The law also allows staff to check pupils' belongings for banned or dangerous items and expects parents to help keep prohibited devices out of school.
Whatever the rule in Slovenia requires, for every osnovna šola, lockable pouches let students keep their own phone, locked, from the first bell to the last, so staff do not collect, store or answer for devices. Before The Internet ships lockable phone pouches and unlocking bases worldwide, including to Slovenia, and can print the school's name or crest on them. Schools buy them outright: one price, no subscription, lease or per-student annual licence. Send us your student numbers and any written quote you have, and we will beat it.
Frequently asked questions
Does the ban cover breaks?
Yes, in primary schools. Phones are not allowed during breaks unless needed for health reasons.
Does the ban apply to secondary schools?
No. Each secondary school decides its own phone rules through its school rules.
How must primary schools store phones?
The law leaves this to each school, which must set the storage place, the procedure for temporarily taking devices away and how they are returned.
Related reading
School phone bans by country · Phone-free schools toolkit · How to roll out phone pouches in a school
Written by the team at Before The Internet, a Toronto-based phone-free company that rents lockable phone pouches for events across North America and sells them to schools and venues worldwide, shipping purchases to any country.
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