From January 2026, educational institutions in Ho Chi Minh City will simultaneously implement plans to build a healthy school environment, limiting students from using mobile phones and electronic devices during recess.
According to the plan of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training (GDDT), schools must fully disseminate and propagate this policy to all officials, teachers, staff, students and parents, in order to create unity in awareness and consensus in the implementation process.
One of the important requirements is that schools organize surveys of all students to grasp the needs and desires to participate in activities during recess. On that basis, the school develops a plan suitable to actual conditions, ensuring goals, content, forms of implementation, resources, time and assignment of specific tasks.
According to the orientation of the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training, activities during recess are designed into 3 main groups.
The first group is physical activity, encouraging students to participate in collective activities, sports, games, and arts to enhance physical activity and direct interaction.
The second group is static activities, for students who need to rest, relax or choose quiet activities such as playing chess, reading books, painting, living in quiet corners, green spaces in the school campus.
The third group is the use of controlled electronic devices, applied to students who need to use phones or electronic devices for study, search or organized, group entertainment activities, with the permission of teachers and in the area prescribed by the school.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education emphasized that during recess, students should not be encouraged to use mobile phones individually, passively, or separately, such as playing games alone, surfing social networks or watching videos for a long time without interaction. Schools respect students' choices but must ensure that there is no abuse of electronic devices for individual purposes.
The Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training encourages educational institutions to develop internal regulations and processes for managing electronic devices in the direction of education and self-awareness. In which, it is necessary to clearly stipulate areas, times, and forms of use; assign teachers, Youth Union - Association organizations and support forces during recess.
Notably, the plan clearly states that electronic devices will not be seized or handled in violation of legal regulations, avoiding creating pressure or negative reactions from students and parents.
Mr. Nguyen Van Hieu - Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training - said that limiting students from using phones and electronic devices in schools is a policy that has received very high consensus.
Survey results show that nearly 98% of students agree with this solution, because the ultimate goal is to build a safe, healthy and happy school environment.
Mr. Hieu believes that "happy school" does not mean rigidly prohibiting, but creating attractive alternative activities so that students no longer depend on phones. When not using electronic devices during recess, students need to participate in physical activities, folk games, sports, music, art, reading books... so that each recess time truly becomes a time of relaxation and fun.
The important thing is to create a voluntary habit, so that students consider recess without phones as a positive, useful and desirable time," Mr. Hieu emphasized.
Previously, from October 2025, the Ho Chi Minh City Department of Education and Training piloted limiting students from using phones during recess at 16 schools.
