Mind & Body

DepEd launches #BeCyberSafe to help ensure children’s safety online

The Department of Education (DepEd) has launched a program that will educate and inform teachers, parents, learners, and the school community on how to keep children safe online.

The program, dubbed #BeCyberSafe, highlights the need to protect children against the dangers of cyberspace. Education Secretary Leonor Briones led the launch on Friday. She said that the program complements DepEd’s plan to spend at least P8.4 million for the purchase of tablets, which would relieve students from carrying many textbooks but open them to the potential dangers of the internet.

Safety in cyberspace

The #BeCyberSafe program was created through a partnership with the Stairway Foundation and the Internet and Mobile Marketing Association of the Philippines (IMMAP). It has three main components including (1) Project for Keeps; (2) Dalir-Eskwela; and (3) Chatbot.

“Project for Keeps” is a social media movement that aims to educate teenagers about active and public Facebook accounts as well as the risks of befriending strangers online. Meanwhile, “Dalir-Eskwela” offers various educational materials discussing key issues on cyber safety with regards to Online Gaming, Cyber Bullying, Online Chatting, and Online Pornography. Lastly, “Chatbot” will serve as a Messenger-based helpline designed to “address the lack of reporting by children of child protection issues they face in the cyberspace.”

via Manila Bulletin / Merlina Hernando-Malipot

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