Parents campaign for the right to a tech-free education for Scottish pupils

Unplug.Scot has set out a six-point manifesto that would limit screen time in class and help improve online safety for pupils.

So far, the organisation has the full backing of the Scottish Conservatives but is appealing for cross-party support.

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Co-founder Harry Amies said: Mr Amies said: “We want the right for a parents to be able to opt for a low-tech education.

“Our manifesto points one to five are what we would describe as a low-tech education and we are calling for the right for parents to choose that option and not be forced to accept education is delivered like that.

“People have different views and we’re not saying every school has to operate in the same way but, as parents, we should have a right to say our children can’t have unlimited screen time or access to every website.”

Alongside a ban on phones in class, Unplug.Scot wants to see a mandatory one-hour screen time limit in schools that would rise to two hours for older pupils.

The group polled parents to uncover the issues causing most concern around their children’s education.

In what has become one of the most hotly-contested issues affecting Scots schooling, parents are asking for other low-tech options such as paper homework.

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The manifesto further insists on whitelist filtering to secure ad-free, evidence-based apps and internet resources for the classroom.

Mr Amies said: “Screen time is something parents are advised to keep controls on, which they are doing their best to do at home.

“Yet you then find out your kids are on screen for three to four hours a day and the councils are not willing to discuss screen time limits.”

In one anecdotal situation, Mr Amies said a parents reported their child had spent three hours a day in class using the computer game Minecraft.

The primary aged child was then coming home to immediately charge his iPad so he could carry on playing.

Mr Amies added: “No one has been able to get a hard limit out of a council who has asked for one.

“And, as a parent, you just want to know how long your child has spent staring at a screen all day.”

“It is aggravating when things that seem obvious to everybody just aren’t happening like screen time limits or filtering.

“You expect children to only be able to access education sites or selected sites but it’s done in reverse so that a few bad sites are blocked but the rest of the internet is open.

“It seems obvious to have whitelist-based filtering where the resources selected for the school are the only ones that can be accessed.”

Mr Amies described homework as a “big flashpoint” whereby children come home and have to do further work involving a phone or laptop.

He said: “It is very easy at that time of the evening for a kid to be sat down and have to look at some homework on a screen then be distracted and do something else.

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“You shouldn’t really have to be obliged to do work on a screen in the evening as well.”

Unplug.Scot also wants an opt-in system for all processing or use of a child's data by commercial third-parties.

The grassroots campaign group has found that councils are using a catch-all legal basis to take control of pupils’ data, including providing it to third parties.

This means, the group says, local authorities can give a child’s data to a commercial company, which can resell it.

There is little or no opt-in or visibility for a parent or carer on what the data is being used for.

Scottish Conservative spokesman Miles Briggs said his party fully backed the Unplug.Scot manifesto and would seek to legislate for the group’s demands.

Mr Briggs said: ”The Conservatives recognise and will uphold, defend and seek to make explicit in law, all six of the Unplug.Scot Low Tech Rights (LTRs) for child protection, whether in government or in opposition in the forthcoming 2026 Holyrood Parliament.”

Sir Keir Starmer has this week said Labour will move quickly on the issue of an Australian-style social media ban for under-16s.

The prime minister announced that further steps will be taken to try to ensure a safer online space for young people.

Scottish Labour education spokesman Paul O’Kane said the party has listened to the concerns of teachers, pupils, and parents about the need for action on mobile phones and the use of social media.

“That is why we have committed to a ban on mobile phones in school classrooms, as part of efforts to address the shortening of attention spans among pupils, as well as improving attentiveness and behaviour in class,” he said.

“We have also set out our plans to ban social media use for under-16s, to help protect them from harmful and hateful content online.

“We understand the need to free up children from a dependency on mobile devices, and we want them to be able to enjoy these years without the added pressures that come with social media.”

Education secretary Jenny Gilruth has been consistently clear that decisions on mobile phone use are best taken by individual head teachers.

Local authorities have the ultimate say in how tech is used in classrooms, with a widely disparate picture across the country.

Scottish Liberal Democrat education spokesman Willie Rennie MSP said: "We are already working on a pre-manifesto commitment to ensure children can learn in phone-free classrooms.

"That is part of a wider package of protections and measures designed to keep kids safe online and give them the best childhood possible."