Every pupil in Moldova deserves to study in a safe online school

The International Center La Strada Moldova is entering a particularly important phase for promoting the safety of children in the online environment at the national level. On June 25, a first discussion session took place with the participation of a group of specialists from the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research (MECC), an institution supporting our main initiatives for online safety education over several years. At yesterday's meeting it was decided that the implementation of the Safe Online School Model will be operationalized in the coming months, under the auspices of MECC.

The members of the working group agreed on the need for a systemic change in the way online safety education is approached today by parents, teachers, careers and the whole community. The school should be geared towards developing the child's digital resilience to abuse in the online environment. Pupils must be taught how to recognize a potential risk and develop the ability to make independent choices.

The Safe Online School model envisages that every school in Moldova be transformed into a safe learning environment, where trends and risks in the online environment are taken into account:

- Children are equipped with the necessary skills to deal with the risks of the Internet - to be able to identify them in time and stop situations of abuse;

- Parents know how to support children in the digital world, how to talk to them, not limiting them in the use of technologies, but developing their critical thinking;

- Teachers are prepared to address topics of interest to children about online safety, how to talk about risks and are able to develop age-appropriate skills to meet online challenges;

- Psychologists and teachers know how to identify the signs of online child abuse, can identify potentially risky situations and are able to intervene amicably, helping the child to overcome the situation of abuse;

- And the educational institution has a secure infrastructure; in school, children can surf online without being exposed to the risk of accessing inappropriate content.

All these objectives should be integrated into school policies, practices and procedures, so that online safety be a cross-cutting element at all levels, in line with the trends of comprehensive approach to online safety by educational institutions, recommended by international policies in the field and shared by the schools from the European countries.