Promoting Safe and Secure Internet Usage among Youth

The Government is currently working on a new piece of legislation, the Child Online Protection Bill, which when enacted will constitute another component in the arsenal that is being put in place to protect children against cybercrimes.

The statement was made by the Minister of Information and Communication Technology, Mr T. Pillay Chedumbrum, at the launching of a workshop on children and online risks this morning at the Mahatma Gandhi Institute, Moka. The half-day workshop, which focused on the theme “Our virtual lives: It’s more than a game, it's your life” and targeting secondary schools students, is part of activities organised by the National Computer Board (NCB) to mark Safer Internet Day 2011.

In his speech, the Minister recalled that Government is leaving no stone unturned to keep children safe online as well as offline. On this score, the E-register, an alert by SMS system to keep track of children attending schools, will be introduced shortly in secondary institutions.

Mr Pillay Chedumbrum also outlined other measures initiated to protect children and adolescents in the cyberspace. They include the connection of all schools to the SchoolNet, a network monitored by the Government Online Centre to ensure that students access only suitable Internet sites with protected contents, and the implementation of projects under the Child Online Safety Action Plan. This plan was endorsed by Government in January 2009 and is centred on sensitisation as well as safety measures, best practices and legislation, among others.

During the workshop, presentations by resource persons from both private and public sectors were made on the following topics: Protect your computer, your family and yourself; Internet safety with parental control; Risks of online gaming and the Impact of Internet use on children and adolescents.

Safer Internet Day, a European Internet Safety Network’s initiative, is an annual event observed in February and aims at promoting safe and responsible use of the Internet and mobile phone technologies, especially among children and young people. The theme chosen for this year’s celebration - “Our virtual lives: It’s more than a game, it's your life” - focuses on online gaming and virtual lives, two online activities quite popular around the world amongst the youth, in a bid to sensitise young people on threats associated with those online gaming and virtual lives .

Other activities organised by the NCB to mark the event include distribution in schools and community centres of brochures on virtual life and online gaming, awareness sessions in schools during the month of February and March on Internet safety for children with the collaboration of the Ministry of Education and Human Resources and the IT Security Unit and awareness sessions on Internet safety for parents and youngsters through the NCB Cyber caravans.