The Ministry of Communication, Science and Technology has initiated a programme to train and appoint students as Safer Internet Ambassadors.

The programme was initiated by Minister Mohamed Maleeh Jamaal on Saturday, and is being conducted in association with the Ministry of Education.

According to the communication ministry, the goal of the initiative is to train and appoint students as Safer Internet Ambassadors.

In a world where children are required to access the internet for various purposes at a young age, the ministry notes that it is critical for young children to understand the dangers of the internet and be able to access it in the safest way possible. The ministry further highlighted that it would be easier for children to understand the risks presented if messages promoting safer internet use were relayed to them by children of the same age group as opposed to adults.

The Ministry of Communication further detailed that the goal of the Safer Internet Training Programme was to have children be made aware of safe ways to surf and access information on the internet and notify them of the risks they may be presented with while being active in online spaces, in addition to providing them the tools to navigate potentially dangerous situations that may arise.

The segments to be taught to child Safer Internet Ambassadors under the programme include privacy and security, cyber bullying, digital friendships and morality in the context of online spaces.

In addition to this, the Ministry of Communication added that those children trained as Ambassadors for the Safer Internet initiative would be taking the lead in conducting awareness programmes for their peers in schools as well.

The Ministry of Communication remarked that this was the first round of trainings for children as Safer Internet Ambassadors aimed at school students in the Male' area, adding that further programmes were scheduled to be conducted in different atolls across the Maldives. 15 students from schools across the capital are being trained as Safer Internet Ambassadors in the fist round of trainings being conducted under the initiative.