Around 2,000 four-day-old chicks will be handed out to pupils at elementary and junior high schools in Bandung in the coming weeks in an attempt to distract the kids from their gadgets.

Students must feed their new pets before and after school and can keep them at home or on school premises if they don’t have space in their backyard.

Authorities in the city, around 150 kilometres (95 miles) southeast of the capital Jakarta, have dubbed the unusual project “chickenisation”.

At a ribbon-cutting held Thursday, a dozen chicks in cages were distributed with a sign that read: “Please take good care of me”.

“There is an aspect of discipline here,” said Bandung’s mayor Oded Muhammad Danial.

But the project isn’t just about curbing schoolkids’ phone habits, he said — it is also part of a national plan to broaden pupils’ education launched by President Joko Widodo.