In 2022 less than half of the students at Cumberland Community School in East London were reaching the 3.0 GPA. In 2023 the school did an experiment where 160 of the school’s 300 students volunteered to delete all of their social media apps. That year 68% of the students hit the 3.0 GPA and almost everyone of the kids who deleted social media. This school year, more students took part in the social media ban and the outcome was just as positive as before. Principal Ekhlas Rahman describes the initiative as a “game changer,” saying, “All of a sudden, our students were 100% focused on revising for their exams.” He credits the hard work of both staff and students for the school’s ongoing progress. "Five years ago this school was failing its students… Now we are among the top performing in the country, it means much greater opportunity for our students.”
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