Now the approximately 1,100 students at the main school in the group of schools in the municipality of Gondomar are prohibited from using cell phones either in the classroom or at break times.

This has been the first of four days determined by the management of the group for the month of March. Since the beginning of the school year, when the total ban on the use of this equipment was implemented, every month there are defined days, not always four, without cell phones.

The only exception is the use of cell phones for teaching and pedagogical activities, explains director Laureano Valente, who emphasises that the main objective is to promote communication and coexistence between students.

"Our goal is for our students to begin to have other routines of communication, socialising and group growth because - in a society of global communication where we are increasingly isolated - it is important that our young people create these habits of closeness to each other with others, other than through a device", he defended.

With the agreement of students and guardians, with whom there was a meeting at the beginning of the school year, the guidance has been followed, almost always to the letter. With the exception of two or three cases of infraction, one of them due to forgetfulness.

"Above all, you see that our students start to talk in a calm way, without shouting," he said.

In addition to the benefits arising from the promotion of new forms of communication, there is a reduction in the negative impacts of excessive cell phone use, whether in terms of concentration, vision, or body posture.

At the head of the group's destinations - which in total, including pre-school and basic education, has 2,100 students - for just over a year, Laureano Valente's ultimate objective is to implement the ban on the use of this equipment gradually and return to a scenario that was a reality at the school a few years ago.