Mexico public school digital access and cellphone restrictions, Digi Mart USA News: Only 35% of public basic-education schools in Mexico have computers and internet for teaching, while the other 65% lack at least one of them, according to a study by México Evalúa and the Educación con Equidad y Calidad Initiative of Tecnológico de Monterrey.
The document, titled Restringir sin prohibir (Restrict Without Prohibiting), warns that restrictions on cellphone use, which took effect under a Secretaría de Educación Pública (SEP) directive, could become a de facto ban in schools without sufficient technological equipment.
Marco Fernández, a researcher at México Evalúa, cautions that the 35% figure may overstate actual technology availability because official statistics count existing computers without verifying whether they work or are suitable for learning. The data comes from the SEP’s 911 form, through which school authorities report enrollment, infrastructure and services each year, including electricity, water, computers and connectivity, without reflecting equipment deterioration.
Fernández recalled a visit to Parral, Chihuahua, where a teacher at the Colegio de Estudios Científicos y Tecnológicos told him: “We have computers, in theory, but these computers are 15 years old,” with programs that no longer worked.
The research indicates that for 56.3% of mobile phone users aged six to 17, phones are their only digital tool. That share reaches 73.1% among households with minors in the low socioeconomic stratum, compared with 11.2% in high-stratum households, a difference of 61.9 percentage points.
Fernández said restrictions on phones should be accompanied by resources to equip schools with computers and tablets, as well as investment in connectivity and teacher training to use technology in instruction. “If the regulation came with resources, as happens in countries that have made this regulation, where they do have tablets or computers to develop digital skills, and where they are investing in training teachers to use technology and improve learning, it would not raise so many doubts about the new cellphone guidelines, but none of that is the case,” the researcher said.
He argues the shortfalls mainly affect public schools, where many teachers rely on cellphones to access educational materials, including QR codes in free textbooks.
The study also found that 88.2% of adolescents aged 12 to 14 use cellphones for schoolwork, while only 26.2% say they have the skills to protect their devices and personal data and to evaluate the reliability of information they consult.
Fernández rejected the idea that phone use alone explains Mexico’s weak educational results, citing South Korea, Japan and Turkey, whose students performed better on PISA despite using these devices as much or more than Mexican students. He also questioned the SEP guidelines for lacking baseline measurements to determine whether the regulation improves learning, school coexistence and students’ socioemotional conditions, although the provisions contemplate adjustments after six months.
Alejandra Luna, an academic at the Instituto de Investigaciones para el Desarrollo de la Educación (Inide) of Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México, says the lack of computers, connectivity and technological equipment in public schools is a structural state debt that mainly affects students in rural and Indigenous communities and marginalized urban areas. She said these shortfalls have persisted for decades and are concentrated in states such as Oaxaca, Guerrero, Chiapas and Michoacán.
Luna recalled that during the rollout of Enciclomedia under the administration of Vicente Fox, some schools received interactive whiteboards without electricity to operate them, while other schools had power but no internet. She argued that technology availability should be assessed not only by the number of computers but also by whether they function and effectively contribute to digital literacy.
She also questioned the longstanding practice of relying on students’ phones to compensate for school shortfalls, saying it shifts costs such as connectivity, device wear and theft risk to families, and disadvantages students who lack a device or must share one. Luna said this situation should be analyzed under the right to free education set out in Article 3 of the Constitution.
“If we keep waiting for the student to bring their own device and even their own data, because that cost is also being passed on to the family, the cost ends up falling on the household,” she said.
Luna acknowledged that restrictions may improve student concentration, reduce distractions and support school coexistence, especially during recess, and said limiting devices could encourage socialization, play and emotional regulation. She stressed, however, that removing phones from classrooms should not mean abandoning digital literacy, which requires teaching students to evaluate sources, develop computational thinking, practice responsible digital citizenship and recognize the risks of the internet and social networks.
Luna proposed that the SEP establish a critical digital literacy strategy within curricula, supported by teacher training and adequate resources, and that restrictions include exceptions allowing phone use for defined pedagogical purposes under conditions set by school authorities. She also considers it essential for the federal government to present a verifiable timetable for technological equipment in public schools, with targets and oversight mechanisms, and said authorities should assess the differentiated effects of the regulation according to students’ socioeconomic level and school conditions.
