Safer Internet Day: Forces Children Learn How To Avoid Risks On The Web

Schools across British Forces Cyprus are preparing for special assemblies and workshops dedicated to internet safety, to mark 'Safer Internet Day'.

The military environment of these particular schools makes it all the more important that the younger generations have the knowledge they need to navigate the web safely.

17-year-old Khadija Begum is the digital leader at St John's Secondary School in Episkopi. She said:

"I wanted to become a digital leader because I wanted to make the internet a safer place for everyone, and I realised that not a lot of people in this area knew about the dangers of having an open Facebook.

"I just wanted to make the world a safer place."

She's one of a number of students who teach others all about internet safety, and she's also helping a group of year six pupils from Episkopi Primary School, as they take on the same role in their own school.

Although many children don't have social media accounts, lots of them do play online games, and making sure they do so safely is one of Safer Internet Day’s focuses.

For a lot of the children, the chance to become a digital leader is something they are really looking forward to.

Describing their duties, one pupil said:

"We go around school helping the teachers, updating the iPads, making sure everything runs smoothly."

For this generation of youngsters – who've never known a world without the internet – online safety is undoubtedly a vital life skill.

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