Victoria to ban mobile phones in high schools from 2025 as part of anti-bullying measures

The Victorian government will extend its existing primary school mobile phone ban to all high schools from Term 1 2025, requiring students to switch off devices and store them in lockers during the school day. Premier Jacinta Allan cited cyberbullying and student wellbeing as key drivers, noting the measure follows consultations with principals, teachers and parents. The policy will apply during class time and breaks, with exceptions for medical or learning needs, and comes as part of the state's response to concerns raised in the federal anti-bullying rapid review process.

Blanket device bans remove phones from school grounds but displace rather than prevent the underlying harm, as cyberbullying migrates to after-school hours and unmonitored platforms outside institutional oversight. A detection-first approach operates where and when abuse actually occurs. Guardii's cyberbullying detection module works across the platforms students use at home and on personal devices, identifying sustained targeting and coercion patterns in real time and surfacing threat signals to parents or school welfare staff regardless of when or where the contact takes place. The Meta Business Partner technology blocks hostile messages before they reach the recipient, addressing the harm itself rather than restricting compliant users' access to communication tools.