HA NOI — Ha Noi will close down internet cafes located within 200 metres of schools as from August 30.

The decision followed a Ministry of Information and Communications decision to stop licensing new online games, ban their advertisement and restrict the operating hours of internet cafes in an effort to cut down the abuse of online games by young people.

"We can't let students play games all day and night at internet cafes near schools," said the director of the municipal Department of Information and Communications, Pham Quoc Ban, at a conference in Ha Noi on Wednesday.

Shut by 11pm

Ban said the city would require internet cafe owners to sign commitments to close their shops by 11pm and that those within 200 metres of schools would have to make a commitment by August 15 to move.

An inspection team would also be set up to inspect the operating licences of all internet cafes. Internet service providers would be required to cut internet connections to cafes found in violation of the regulation. Many have raised concerns about the move.

About half of Long Bien District's 94 licensed internet agents were located near schools or kindergartens, and most would be forced to close down within a very short time, said the deputy head of the culture and information unit of the district People's Committee, Nguyen Manh Hung.

He suggested shop owners be given more time to relocate or switch to other types of services.

Dang Minh Ha, the owner of an internet shop on Thuy Khue Street, near Chu Van An High School, said nothing would be improved if an internet cafe 210m from the school continued to operate while one 190m away could not.

"It's unreasonable to apply such a regulation since children will still go and play games online no matter how far away the shop is," Ha said.

It was the schools' fault if students were found off school grounds during school hours, she said.

Psychologist Nguyen Duc Thac from the Ha Noi Association of Science in Psychology Education, saidit would be difficult to inspect thousands of internet cafes around the city. The key point was to tighten the control of online game providers and increase co-operation between schools and families in managing children's free time.

Ban said the city would disseminate the regulation through mass media early next month and encourage internet cafe owners to halt operations as scheduled.

The city would start inspections beginning August 16 and punish violators starting in September, he added.

Figures from the municipal Department of Information and Communications suggest that Ha Noi is home to around 4,000 internet cafes. Over 70 online games are distributed in Viet Nam, with two-thirds listed as having violent content. — VNS