France just banned smartphone use in schools
The new legislation means that students between the age of 3 and 15 will either have to leave their phones at home or keep them turned off during the school day.
Education
This archive covers education milestones from expanding school access in low-income communities to innovative teaching methods and rising literacy rates. Stories here spotlight what’s working — and who’s making it happen — across classrooms, policy halls, and community programs worldwide.
LeBron James opens first-of-its-kind “I Promise” public school in Akron
“We are letting people know it is about true wrap-around support, true family integration and true compassion.”
Virginia and New York enact first laws demanding mental health education
The Empire State’s law, which was reportedly written in 2015, says mental health is “an integral part of our overall health and should be an integral part of health education in New York schools.”
SpaceX is about to quietly launch the first 2 of nearly 12000 satellites to blanket Earth in high-speed internet
The two satellites may test aspects of Starlink, a project to bathe Earth in high-speed internet access using nearly 12,000 spacecraft.
Rhode Island becomes fourth U.S. state to make community college free
The Promise Scholarship will cover the cost of tuition and fees at the Community College of Rhode Island for new students starting this fall regardless of their income.
20,000 schools to install rooftop solar in Pakistan
The government of Pakistan’s second largest province, Punjab, has affirmed its commitment to the installation of rooftop solar power systems on around 20,000 schools.
New York grants free tuition for all state colleges
New York just became the first state in the nation to make tuition free for middle class students at both two- and four-year public colleges.
The U.S. Higher Education Act opens college to millions through federal aid
The Higher Education Act, signed by President Lyndon Johnson on November 8, 1965, opened college to millions of Americans who’d been priced out. Johnson chose his own alma mater in Texas for the signing, launching federal student loans, work-study, and scholarships under one roof. Six decades and eight reauthorizations later, it still shapes who gets to learn.
Uruguay’s José Batlle y Ordóñez launches sweeping social reforms
Uruguay’s social reforms in the early 1900s turned a small South American country into an unlikely pioneer of progressive governance. Under President José Batlle y Ordóñez, the nation established the eight-hour workday, separated church from state, and opened its national university to women. A quietly radical experiment, built on the eastern bank of the River Plate.
Benjamin Thompson launches the first school lunch program in Munich
School lunch programs trace back to 1790s Munich, where American-born exile Benjamin Thompson opened the Poor People’s Institute. He fed children while teaching them to read and write, treating a hot meal as a practical investment rather than charity. Today, roughly 380 million schoolchildren worldwide receive meals through programs built on that quiet insight.