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idespread news about the dangers of Pokémon Go in various parts of the world, including Indonesia, has led teachers at SMPN 1 state junior high school in Purwokerto, Banyumas regency, Central Java, to more closely monitor students within the school compound.

The cell phones of about 1,000 students have been checked over the past couple of days to ensure that students do not play the game at school and that the Android-based online application has not been downloaded on their phones.

“We do not want our students to be impacted by the game, nor see it affect their learning and achievements at school, so we have issued a ban on playing the game,” SMPN 1 principal Sulistyaningsih told the media on Friday.

She said of the hundreds of Android cell phones used by students at school, some had the Pokémon Go application and that the students had been asked to delete it immediately.

“After explaining the dangers of the game, students understood and were willing to remove the game application from their cell phones,” said Sulistyaningsih.

She added that cell phone checks had been carried out several times at the school to protect students from the misuse of technology.

“The current ‘raid’ is being carried out specifically to remove the Pokémon Go application,” said Sulistyaningsih.

“Checks are being made because we believe that the misuse of cell phones by students is a very negative thing,” said the school principal.

She said the use of sophisticated cell phones had been banned at the school after a survey was conducted.

“The survey showed that the more sophisticated a cell phone, the more a student’s achievements decline,” said Sulistyaningsih.

While quoting media and scientific reports, she further said that the excessive use of advanced cell phones could damage brain and eye nerves. Despite prohibiting the use of sophisticated cell phones, the school still allows students to use communication devices for limited purposes.

“We allow the use of common cell phones for text messaging,” said Sulistyaningsih.

Ninth grader Khoreul Anam, who was caught with the Pokémon Go application on his cell phone, said he willingly deleted the game after hearing the teachers’ explanation.

“I installed [the online game application] yesterday just to try it. But now I’ve deleted it to abide by my teacher’s wishes,” said Anam.

Besides the ban imposed at SMPN 1, a similar ban has been imposed at the Darussalam Grand Mosque in Cilacap. The board of executives of the Darussalam Grand Mosque put up a signboard in the mosque yard banning people from playing the game within the mosque compound after many Pokémon Go enthusiasts entered the mosque compound without respecting the sanctity of the place and disturbing worshipers who were praying and conducting other religious activities.

A number of government bodies, including the Indonesian Military (TNI), have expressed concerns about the potential threat posed by Pokemon Go. The Navy recently banned its personnel from playing Pokémon Go, arguing that the use of GPS on smartphones would enable third parties to obtain detailed views of restricted military installations. Similarly, a number of police offices have issued similar bans on officers playing the online game within their compounds.

The last institution to issue such ban was the State Palace, which has banned playing or looking for Pokémon within the palace compound.