France is to try out a ban on mobile phones at school for students aged 15 and under in an effort to give youngsters a "digital pause".

The restriction will be tried out in 200 schools and could go nationwide next year and involves students handing over phones at the start of the day.

The initiative goes one step further than a previous limitation introduced in 2018, which saw students allowed to keep their phones on them at school, but not allowed to use them.

A report published earlier this year by a commission set up by President Emmanuel Macron expressed concern at the negative impacts of overexposure to screens, which it said was causing damage, not just to the children in question but society as a whole.

"All the experts say that screen addiction is the breeding ground for all kinds of problems — harassment, violence, dropping out of school," said Macron.

The report noted what it said was "a very clear consensus on the direct and indirect negative effects of digital devices on sleep, on being sedentary, a lack of physical activity, and the risk of being overweight and even obese … as well as on sight", and said children under the age of 11 should not have phones at all.

"Parents, teachers, content creators, administrations — it is the whole of society that must get involved," the report added.

Servane Mouton, a neurologist who served on the commission, said the phone "must (be) put … in its place," especially when it comes to how very young children are first made aware of the device.

"We have to teach parents once again how to play with their children," she added.

But some groups have raised questions over the organizational practicalities of hundreds of children handing in and collecting phones each day, and David Lelong, from the teachers' union SE-UNSA, questioned its effectiveness when speaking to television news channel BFM TV.

"We are not convinced that cyber bullying between students will decrease with this measure, as we know that the majority of cyber bullying happens after class," he said.

Bans on phones in schools have long been mooted in countries across Europe, but never fully imposed, with varying limitations put in place instead.

In Germany, the use of mobile phones and digital devices in classrooms is confined only to educational purposes, and in the United Kingdom the previous government issued guidance, but said the imposition of rules should be a matter for individual schools and teachers. Spain too has resisted a full ban, but there are some regional restrictions in place, while schools in Portugal have specific phone-free days.

Italy was one of the first countries to ban phones for all school age groups in 2007, only to reverse the ruling in 2017, then reimpose it five years later.