The country, which currently holds the ninth reading position in the PIRLS report, has chosen to pull the brakes rather than accelerate after a hard debate on the subject.

The current Minister of Education, Lotta Edholm, was one of the most hesitant about continuing with this strategy. In an article published in the Swedish newspaper ‘Expressen’, he pointed out his reluctance to the benefits of screens in classrooms. “Books (text) have advantages that no tablet can replace,” he concluded.

As a result of this reflection, on 15 May Edholm announced the suspension of the plan, which proposed two main objectives. Enable students to develop digital skills to participate actively in studies, social and work life and "improve the quality of teaching and achieve objectives through the use of digitisation possibilities".

The implementation of that strategy allowed the introduction of digital devices into the classrooms of the Scandinavian country and the abandonment of textbooks and handwriting.

Elite schools return to paper and pencil by AI and screen abuse

But the minister and her advisers understand that the potential impact of the project on children has not been sufficiently established. Specifically, the Karolinksa Institute, which is dedicated to the study of neurodevelopment, said brain research in children “shows that children do not benefit from screen-based education.”

Despite her privileged position, the Minister of Education concluded that the abuse of the screen had led to a drop in reading comprehension among Swedish children after the last report, warning of the risk of creating "a generation of functional illiterates".