Indonesian minister to issue ban on Pokemon Go in schools

Several students look at anti Pokemon Go posters at Junior High School SMPN 1 in Tegal regency, Central Java, on July 25. THE JAKARTA POST

The Women’s Empowerment and Child Protection Ministry will soon issue a regulation banning children from playing the globally popular augmented-reality game Pokemon Go at school, saying that the game could disrupt their studies.

Minister Yohana Yembise said she had prepared the draft of a decree prohibiting children from bringing mobile phones to hunt the digital monsters at school. No details are available yet on when the ministry will issue the regulation, but she said that she would “soon” sign the decree.

Yohana urged school children to find different hobbies, saying that the virtual game negatively affected their development.

“Playing Pokemon Go can damage children’s minds and make them lazy. We have to implement early prevention by issuing a ministerial decree,” she said on Wednesday as reported by Antara news agency.

READ: Indonesia’s presidential palace bans playing of ‘Pokemon Go’

She said she realized the game’s popularity was due to the rapid development of information technology nowadays, and therefore urged parents to also ban their children from playing the game.

Other state institutions have also issued bans on employees and members of the public from playing the game developed by Niantic Labs over security breach concerns. Offices such as the Presidential Palace, National Police and Indonesian Military have banned visitors from playing Pokemon Go on their premises, fearing that secret information might be leaked.

READ: Pokemon Go players risk all for their monsters