- February 14, 2014
- Posted by: admin
- Category: Events
14th February 2014This year, the Internet Society Uganda chapter celebrated Safer Internet Day (SID) on February 14, 2014 with Ambrosoli International School. The school is one of the 3 pilot schools under which the Chapter is implementing a project on Promoting Child Online Protection in Uganda.In celebrating the day, the school undertook different activities in preparation for the day by conducting as part of their e-safety campaign. Some of the activities included encouraging children to paint or draw images related to safety online. Sessions were also held with pupils of different ages, in which they were sensitised about safety online.
On the actual day of the celebrations, pupils performed a skit about staying safe online at an assembly for both students and parents where students performed a skit about staying safe online. This was followed by a meeting with parents, where the main purpose was to sensitise parents about child online safety.
Discussions started by asking how many parents had bought laptops/computers for their children. It was surprising that for every group of 12 students, 3 had laptops. When asked what children do online, parents gave responses ranging from online games (like dressing and makeup), online searches, watching videos on YouTube (videos of how to play games, watching cartoons) and many other reasons. Most parents seemed to suggest that their children did not have Facebook accounts although a teacher confirmed that some children were active on Facebook.
Other parents also admitted that computers had been set up in their children’s bedrooms, a practice which was greatly discouraged. Many parents were worried about the results they receive when carrying out online searches, stating that some of the content was not appropriate for children. For example, a simple web search for online games will not categorise the games as adult or children’s games. Besides, the default YouTube page on most occasions contains suggested videos that may not necessarily be appropriate for children.
Presentations from the Ambrosoli ICT staff and the Internet Society Uganda Chapter gave details about Internet safety risks including cyberbullying, exposure to inappropriate content, online predators or paedophiles, posting personal or inappropriate information and ‘sexting’. Most parents were so concerned about protecting their children online. They were worried that the Internet was becoming a part of their children’s lives and yet they did not have all the information they needed to ensure safety online. Amidst discussions, parents were advised to build a strong relationship with their children so that they (children) can listen to and follow advice. They were also encouraged to know their children’s online friends to help filter genuine friends from imposters. Most importantly, they were asked to ensure that computers are not kept in children’s bedrooms but in a place where parents/guardians can monitor what the children are doing online. Sharing personal information like locations, addresses and phone numbers was discouraged and the school had already gone ahead to ask students not to share any information with strangers online.
Conclusively, parents/guardians agreed that it is important to model a positive online behaviour since many children ‘copy’ behaviours and habits from older people around them. Participants were encouraged to read and understand cyber related polices/laws and report cases to the police.
Further information
Safer Internet Day (SID) is organised by the joint Insafe/INHOPE network, with the support of the European Commission each February to promote safer and more responsible use of online technology and mobile devices, especially among children and young people. In Uganda, the Internet Society (ISOC) Uganda Chapter hosts the Safer Internet Awareness Centre with the aim of raising awareness of child online safety issues in Uganda. The theme strapline for this year’s celebration was “Let’s create a better Internet together”.
The Internet Society Uganda Chapter is implementing a project on promoting Child Online Safety funded through the Internet Society Community Grants Programme. The Chapter is working with the Ministry of Information and Communications Technology, the National Information Technology Authority – Uganda (NITA-U) and very soon the Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to reach out to more schools.
