Schools encouraged to take active role in curbing online addictions

Primary and secondary school students should not bring digital devices, including cellphones, to classrooms and students who have applied to bring such devices to school should turn them in for custody, a new notice said on Friday.

The notice, issued by the Ministry of Education and five other departments, aims to curb online gaming addictions among underaged people.

Online gaming companies should strengthen content verification for online games, which should not contain unsafe behaviors for students to imitate, violence, vulgarity or superstitions.

They should strictly implement requirements for real-name registration and logging, and can only offer one hour of service on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays to primary and secondary school students.

School faculty members should educate students to prevent them from entering Internet cafes and curb developing online addictions through scientific and proper means.

Online gaming companies will face punishment if they fail to follow these requirements, and online education companies that publish information and advertisements on online games should also be punished or even closed.

Individuals and organizations can report on online gaming companies and platforms for failing to implement the requirements.

Online addiction prevention for primary and secondary school students will be included in the evaluation criteria for local governments and schools.