THOUSANDS of students in Bahrain’s government schools are benefiting from special lessons on Internet safety and cybersecurity as part of a unique curriculum.
In 2011, the Interior Ministry launched its Ma’an (Together) programme in public schools, aimed at countering violence and addiction.
It works within the approach of the US Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E. International) programme that seeks to prevent drug use, gang membership and violent behaviour among school students.
Since the inception of Ma’an, 196 out of 211 public schools have been covered, and the number of students benefiting from the project has increased to 136,300.
Skills
Over the years, the programme has been developed by adding new curricula on peaceful coexistence, combating extremism, and cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity was added to the curriculum last July and so far 93 per cent of public schools in Bahrain has been covered, according to Ma’an programme director Ali Ameeni.
He explained that a trained officer conducts four interactive sessions covering different topics, including fears of parents related to online predators and bullying.
This is followed by an evaluation.
“In today’s digital era, it is important to start early and teach students about safe Internet browsing, online predators and secure online payments.
“We have received good response from students and parents to this pilot project, which will eventually cover all public – and private – schools.”
The Ma’an programme has been credited with a drop in violence, addiction, cases of bullying and other negative social phenomena.
Partnering with the National Cybersecurity Centre, the project aims to train students to be more aware of emerging cyber challenges.
“Cybersecurity is one of the most prominent challenges facing the world, and Bahrain has begun laying the foundations for protecting society by providing kindergarten, primary, intermediate and secondary students with the necessary information and Internet safety skills.
“We want to establish a cybersecurity-capable population and upgrade our educational activities to train the students with key skills that could even help them pursue careers in technology.”
Last month, a special bus toured schools where students were briefed on how to browse safely and not to share personal information as part of broader interactive sessions.
“We have so many success stories and there are several students who are now grown-ups and talk about the Ma’an programme which they attended in school,” added Mr Ameeni.
D.A.R.E was launched in 1983 and is the largest K-12 prevention education programme in the world taught in thousands of schools throughout America and other countries.
Meanwhile, the Ma’an programme has obtained the ISO 37000:2021 – Governance of Organisations accreditation certificate – the first entity in Bahrain to do so.
Mr Ameeni and Nationality, Passports and Residence Affairs and Ma’an chairman Shaikh Hisham bin Abdulrahman Al Khalifa met Interior Minister General Shaikh Rashid bin Abdulla Al Khalifa following the success of the accreditation.
For more information about the Ma’an programme, contact 17750597.
sandy@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))