Perhaps some of the most digitized countries on Earth, Scandinavian and Nordic nations are now going old school - with plans to introduce nationwide bans on mobile devices, including smartphones, in schools.

Earlier this year, Denmark’s coalition government said it had secured a broad majority in parliament to introduce a bill to ban all mobile devices in the country’s public schools.

The rules will apply to smartphones and other private electronic devices that have internet access, except for computers and tablets used for education.

Danish lawmaker Sara Emil Baaring, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Children and Schools, said the bill could become law by spring, meaning the ban would come into force in August 2026, the start of the next academic year.

"We have been too eager to implement digitalization in our schools… We can see that a lot of students aren’t even reading physical books anymore. So, it’s just a way to go a little bit backward because we implemented things too fast."

Trongårdsskolen in Kongens Lyngby, 12 kilometers north of Copenhagen, is a mobile-free school.

Two years ago, teachers at the Danish high school, which educates around 700 children aged between 9 and 16, put forward a motion to parents and school officials.

Teacher Bent Povlsen, 64, says things were getting out of hand - from constant interruptions in classes to “zombie” students sitting quietly on their phones, not interacting with fellow pupils.

Parents would even call in the middle of class to discuss dinner or shopping trips.

"We saw a lot of students losing focus, we saw them lose concentration. They were mentally not really present in school,” recalled Povlsen.

“They stopped playing, they stopped doing sports, they actually stopped talking with each other during breaks. That was a really sad moment.”

Now, when students arrive for the school day, they place their mobile devices - including smartphones, tablets, and smartwatches - into a secure cabinet, where they’re locked away until the end of classes.

Special exceptions are made for students who need devices for diabetes apps or for disabilities like dyslexia, for example.

Povlsen, who’s been teaching at the school for 39 years, says it’s been a success.

"We are on track again," he said.

AP video by James Brooks