Safer Internet Day (SID) 2022
The Safer Internet Day has become a landmark event over the years. Safer Internet Day was at first an initiative of the EU Safeborders project in 2004 and was taken up in 2005 by Insafe network. In 2009, the concept of Safer Internet Day Committees was introduced to strengthen the bonds with countries outside the network and invest in a harmonised promotion of the campaign across the world. Since then, Safer Internet Day has grown to be an international event celebrated in more than 200 countries and territories around the world. The main objective of this event is to promote safe and responsible use of the Internet and mobile devices amongst youngsters.
Safer
Internet Day in Mauritius
The Safer Internet Day is
celebrated in Mauritius since 2009 by the Computer Emergency Response Team of
Mauritius (CERT-MU), which is a division of the National Computer Board
operating under the aegis of the Ministry of Information Technology,
Communication and Innovation. CERT-MU has been organizing different events to
celebrate the Safer Internet Day in Mauritius. These ranges from organisation
of workshops for youth, online quiz competition, training programmes for
teachers, dissemination of brochures on online safety, awareness campaigns in schools,
community centres, women centres etc.
Safer
Internet Day (SID) 2022 Activities in Mauritius
This
year, CERT-MU is organizing the 13th edition of SID and the theme
for this year’s event is “Together for a Better Internet”. In
this context, it has been proposed to celebrate a Safer Internet Week from 8th
to 11th February 2022 instead of having only a one day event on the
occasion of SID. In this regard, different activities have been proposed which
are as follows:
1. Production
of video clips on Internet safety
Two
video clips will be produced on the theme of Internet Safety together with the
Hon. Minister’s message to youngsters on the occasion of SID 2022. These clips
will be disseminated to primary, secondary and tertiary institutions and also uploaded
on the CERT-MU website and it will be made available as from 8th February
2022.
2. Organisation
of an online quiz on Internet safety for Tertiary students
Another
activity to be conducted for this year’s SID is an online quiz competition for
tertiary level students from different tertiary institutions. The quiz will be
conducted on the 22nd February 2022 and provision to give away the prizes
is being catered.
3. A
digital guideline on best Internet practices for youngsters
A
digital guideline on Best Internet Practices for youngsters will be published
by CERT-MU and will be disseminated to the general public through its website.
The purpose of the guideline will be to provide essential information on online
safety, privacy and regulations as well as encourage safe and smart decisions
when surfing online. The target audience for this guideline is students,
teachers, parents, grandparents, guardians and everyone else who uses the
Internet or deal with young people who use the Internet. The guideline will also
capture the provisions of new law related to youngsters. It will be issued on
9th of February 2022.
4. Dissemination
of Safety tips on a weekly basis to all public officers
On the
occasion of SID 2022, CERT-MU is planning to come up with a weekly Safety tip
to be sent to all public officers through an email by the Post Master in order
to sensitize public officers on the dangers and counter measures of the
Internet. It will start on 8th of February 2022.
5. Online
awareness sessions for youngsters, students & teachers
Online
awareness sessions will be organised for students and teachers during the year
and it will cover best online practices, online dangers and its countermeasure.
The sessions will be organised on the Zoom platform and will be conducted in collaboration
with the Ministry of Education.
6. Collaboration with the Federation of Innovative & Numeric Activities in Mauritius (FINAM) to organize an online workshop for tertiary level students
FINAM is organizing an online workshop on Internet Dangers and countermeasures for tertiary level students on 8th of February 2022. The CERT-MU will collaborate with FINAM for this workshop.
7. Round
table discussion on Internet Safety
On the
occasion of SID 2022, CERT-MU is also planning to organise a round table
discussion involving stakeholders such as Law enforcement, Academia and Private
sector to discuss the burning issues around Internet Safety on the 9th of
February 2022. It is planned to conduct the round table in collaboration with
MBC to outreach maximum people.