No Pokémon Go in Schools

According to the Education Minister, Datuk Seri Mahdzir Khalid, students in public schools are not allowed to play the popular mobile hit game Pokémon Go in school compounds.

Prohibition on the use of mobile phones in public schools has always been in place and a mobile game will not be the reason to make exceptions, according to the ministry. The current trend is bringing attention to school authorities and the ministry has called for stricter action on the use of mobile phones. The minister has also called on schools and teachers to confiscate students' phones if found to be engaged in mobile games, including but not limited to Pokémon Go.

The app game has attracted the attention of many organisations and religious groups, which have called for banning the app in many countries.

For instance, Islamic authorities in a number of Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and here in Malaysia have issued fatwas banning the viral mobile game. In fact, Iran became the first nation in the world to completely ban the game for security and religious reasons.

Islamic authorities in Malaysia have issued a fatwa that bans the mobile game and the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim) has urged Muslims in the country to avoid playing the game. However, it seems that an overwhelming number of Malaysians aren't taking the edict seriously, which has sparked anger among some authority figures, which led these figures to urge Muslims to respect the fatwa.

The game topped the download charts in the countries where it has been released and in some cases the number of downloads for the game became higher than the number of downloads for major social media giants like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and other major application.

Pokémon Go is a mobile game that was released on July 6th, 2016 by Nintendo. It went viral within days after its release and the game is free to download and play. The combination of augmented reality and GPS technology allows players to move around a particular area to collect digital creatures from real locations.