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Safe surfing for kids
- By News On Sunday
- Published 25th July, 2008
- Education
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Creating awareness of cyber-crimes and risks through information and service support to parents and guidances might just help, stakeholders believe. The Internet Child Safety Foundation conducted the third workshop on 'Internet Safety For Children' at a Youth Centre in Central Flacq on Wednesday last. This workshop is the third of the series carried over the island following a research study on 'Impact of Internet on Children' compiled by the ICSF in 2007.
The research focused on the use of Internet by youngsters and the likely consequences and dangers they encountered. The findings revealed that the risks were real and that the young persons interviewed had experienced harm to some extent. There is also a lack of parental information and awareness on the outcomes of unsupervised use of Internet by children.
Hence, different stakeholders are geared to work on information, education, safety measures and greater accountability and responsibility of service providers. A series of workshops are on the track aiming at sensitizing parents and young people to the dangers found on the Internet
through parental education, encouraging the positive content, and promoting safe surfing.
Around 70 parents and youngsters from the eastern part of the island attended this workshop. The interactive workshop highlighted topics like understanding the reasons why children use the Internet; information on the favourite sites of children in Mauritius, whether these visited sites are appropriate for children or not. Discussions were also held on how and where children have access to the Internet and whether children visited sites alone or in groups. Discussing on “Internet and inappropriate content” and the role of parents in guiding and supervising children's use of Internet, along with safety tips summed up the question session.
Some educational materials such as posters and stickers pertaining to safe surfing prepared by the ICSF were also distributed to the participants.
Mahendranath Busgopaul, Director of the ICSF, emphasized risk prevention by creating awareness through information and the support service for parents and guardians. Minister of Information Technology,Etienne Sinatambou, and Rishi Choonee, chairman of the host district, launched the event.
The research focused on the use of Internet by youngsters and the likely consequences and dangers they encountered. The findings revealed that the risks were real and that the young persons interviewed had experienced harm to some extent. There is also a lack of parental information and awareness on the outcomes of unsupervised use of Internet by children.
Hence, different stakeholders are geared to work on information, education, safety measures and greater accountability and responsibility of service providers. A series of workshops are on the track aiming at sensitizing parents and young people to the dangers found on the Internet
Around 70 parents and youngsters from the eastern part of the island attended this workshop. The interactive workshop highlighted topics like understanding the reasons why children use the Internet; information on the favourite sites of children in Mauritius, whether these visited sites are appropriate for children or not. Discussions were also held on how and where children have access to the Internet and whether children visited sites alone or in groups. Discussing on “Internet and inappropriate content” and the role of parents in guiding and supervising children's use of Internet, along with safety tips summed up the question session.
Some educational materials such as posters and stickers pertaining to safe surfing prepared by the ICSF were also distributed to the participants.
Mahendranath Busgopaul, Director of the ICSF, emphasized risk prevention by creating awareness through information and the support service for parents and guardians. Minister of Information Technology,Etienne Sinatambou, and Rishi Choonee, chairman of the host district, launched the event.
