German finance minister sees advantages of smartphones in schools

Germany's Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil has said he is opposed to banning mobile phones and social media in schools.

"I'm not convinced that this is the right way," Klingbeil said during a visit on Friday to the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa, where digital experts are trained.

Instead, he said, "I think we have to see how we can use, for example, gamification in modern education."

Gamification involves transferring playful elements and skills from the computer and video game industry to other areas such as education or the health sector.

Klingbeil will attend the G20 summit of leading industrialized and emerging countries in the South African city of Johannesburg on Saturday and Sunday together with his boss, Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

Merz advocated a ban on mobile phones in primary schools at the beginning of October. He conceded then that it would not be easy to enforce a ban on social media for young people under the age of 16, but said he had great sympathy for countries that had already implemented such a ban.

"Children need to learn arithmetic, writing and reading, not play around on their mobile phones," the German chancellor said.

Klingbeil told the students in Johannesburg "you have to know in Germany at the moment, there's a debate going on how to ban smartphones and social media from schools."

On artificial intelligence, Klingbeil said he wanted "a more optimistic debate about that."

He said there were concerns that AI will lead to many job losses, but he believed new ones could be created. "We have to talk about both sides, about the danger and the opportunities."