Demòcrata Tables 25 Amendments for Digital Education, Device Bans in Andorra Child Rights Law

The Demòcrata parliamentary group has tabled 25 amendments to the qualified bill revising Andorra's law on the rights of children and adolescents, focusing on enhanced digital education, restrictions on personal devices in schools, and stronger protections for vulnerable minors.

The proposals seek to embed digital competencies across school curricula, tailored to students' ages, while promoting critical thinking, online ethics, and self-protection skills. An expanded Article 46 would mandate their inclusion in all educational projects. Continuous specialised training for teachers in digital skills would address equality of opportunities and prevent a digital divide.

Personal devices like mobiles would face bans in primary and lower secondary classrooms, with exceptions only for pedagogical needs or students with disabilities. Upper secondary schools and vocational centres could prohibit them across premises or during off-site activities. Schools must treat technology as a learning aid, not a distraction or exclusion factor, prioritising platforms that protect minors' privacy. Complementary methods using physical materials and handwriting would balance digital tools.

Child protection measures introduce parental newborn abandonment as a risk indicator, replace "child custody" with "child guardianship," and reference the Primary Care Service. They specify director powers at intensive residential protection centres, outline urgent administrative guardianship, and detail support for temporary care and placements. The definition of violence requiring intervention has widened.

Andorra Digital's role is confined to technical collaboration and non-binding recommendations to bodies like the National Commission for Childhood and Adolescence.

The proposals have drawn support from the Andorran School Parents' Association (AMPAEA) and the Association for the Defence of Youth at Risk (ADJRA). AMPAEA president Susagna Vela praised a pilot scheme this year at the Andorran Lower Secondary School in Encamp, where students deposit phones on arrival and retrieve them at the end of the day. She noted improved peer interactions, with children talking, playing, and resolving conflicts more freely during breaks. "It has made the children communicate more with each other," she said, adding that legislation would ease pressure on school directors.

ADJRA president Sandra Cano welcomed the move "with some joy," though cautiously pending the final text. She highlighted broader screen dependency issues, from streets to buses, and called for patios to reclaim space for play and relationships. While regretting the need for law, she urged accompanying digital education, prevention, and evaluation, plus consideration for after-school settings like youth clubs. Both groups stressed that screen concerns extend beyond school hours, with families seeking guidance on managing online risks.