Russian lawmakers on 6th of December voted in favor of banning the use of cellphones in school classrooms, a move they argue will help improve the learning process for students. The speaker of Russia's lower-house State Duma Vyacheslav Volodin said cellphones would no longer be permitted in classrooms except for “emergencies.”

"This is a step forward in an important cultural change," says Liberal Party leader Johan Pehrson. The government wants this to be the norm in all Swedish schools.

A school in the northern Lithuanian county of Akmenė has become the first school to ban pupils from using the telephone during school hours. However, Lithuania does not yet have a nation-wide policy on mobile phones in schools, although discussions have taken place in parliament and in the education sector.