IT Live: Some 1.2 million children and adolescents will be trained to stay safe on online under a project dubbed as “Strengthening and Scaling Child Online Protection in Bangladesh”. To this end, Grameenphone, Telenor and UNICEF today signed a partnership agreement at a ceremony in a city hotel, said a press release.

The project will train 400,000 parents, teachers and caregivers to support child online protection, as some parents prevent their children from accessing the internet due to fears about what they could be exposed to and this denies children the opportunity to benefit from the internet.

“All children in Bangladesh must be able to use the internet safely by being equipped with the skills and being able to use the internet in an enabling environment,” said Dara Johnston, UNICEF Deputy Representative.

“We hope that this partnership will institutionalize the key top tips about child online protection and establish the foundations of ensuring that these become a key part of education for children in Bangladesh,” added Dara.

The project will also reach 20 million people through an integrated communications campaign which supports awareness of child online protection and will engage at least 50,000 people in taking supportive action. It will convene policy stakeholders to agree on a plan to mainstream awareness on child online protection in Bangladesh.

Ole Bjorn Sjulstad, Chief Corporate Affairs Officer, Grameenphone said, “As we move into the age of data, online safety has become a global issue for people of all ages, especially children, how it’s impacting our society and our future generations. But we cannot ignore how the internet has become a necessity for a child’s learning, development and growth.”

He said, “We want our future generations to be equipped and well versed about their responsibilities over the internet. It is important that they take advantage of internet for leaning and understand the significance of being smart and using their heart.”

The partnership will also address offline protection issues through its focus on creating sustainable and embedded solutions inside schools. This will support creating a forum or Safe Clubs within participating schools where child protection issues can be addressed.

“As part of our global commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 10 Reducing Inequalities, we are committed to educating four million children on child online safety across our markets by 2020 and today’s partnership is an important contributor to this endeavour,” said Manisha Dogra, Telenor’s Vice President (Sustainability).

UNICEF Bangladesh, Grameenphone and Telenor have been collaborating since 2018 to help ensure children, parents and caregivers are aware of how to use the internet safely and to minimize risks through the program titled “Be Smart, Use Heart”.

Dhaka 5 July (campuslive24.com)//MIH