CyberPeace Foundation and WhatsApp India launch digital campaign to train students on online safety

CyberPeace Foundation (CPF), a not-for-profit organization, partnered with WhatsApp last month, on a project to advocate cyber safety awareness amongst students in 5 states. The first leg of the partnership was launched today in Bihar, at a virtual event by Shri JS Gangwar, IPS, ADG, EoU, Bihar Police and was attended by over 2000 students. Vineet Kumar, President, CyberPeace Foundation, Shivnath Thukral, Public Policy Director, WhatsApp and Dr Rajeev Ranjan Baldwin, Chairman Sahodaya Schools addressed the gathering by talking about the importance of cyber safety and cyber ethics.

 

Under the initiative, CyberPeace Foundation and WhatsApp will create and implement a training webinar module that will reach hundreds of schools in Bihar. The training will help develop skills in the domain of cybersecurity and cyber ethics along with holistic life skills such as leadership, productivity, teamwork, problem-solving, critical observation and more.

 

Talking at the launch, Vineet Kumar, Founder and President, CPF said, “Carrying forward our partnership with WhatsApp India we are delighted to launch this initiative across the states of Delhi/NCR, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand & Maharashtra. We are thankful to the Bihar Police as well for supporting this campaign. Students are extremely vulnerable to cyber threats and what’s worrying is that they lack the awareness to address the same. This campaign will help address these challenges & create a robust network of students who are aware of the cyber threats they face & will now have the tools to mitigate this crisis effectively.”

 

Shivnath Thukral, Public Policy Director, WhatsApp India added, “WhatsApp remains deeply committed to the privacy and safety of our users. It is critical that we work together to ensure a safer cyberspace especially for children and first-time digital users. This partnership will focus on awareness and inculcating a sense of individual responsibility among students, which will translate into a more secure and informed online experience. Together with CyberPeace Foundation, we hope to help fulfil the need for digital literacy skills."

 

This partnership aims to create awareness, drive critical thinking and logical reasoning to infuse a sense of responsibility and resilience among students while interacting in the online space. Intended to reach 15000 students in Bihar, Delhi/NCR, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, it will help create more cyber aware students and teachers across India’s educational system.

 

Talking at the virtual launch event, Shri J S Gangwar, Additional Director General of Police, said, “The CyberPeace Foundation and WhatsApp are doing a great job in collaboratively working towards creating a learning approach for the children. We, in the Bihar police, have created a state-level WhatsApp Cyber Senani group and a WhatsApp Cyber Senani educational group to create awareness around cybersecurity. This has helped us connect 40 districts of Bihar and reach out to more than 2.25 lakh people daily. We are hoping to further leverage our relationship with WhatsApp to help more children.”

 

At the end of this initiative, a knowledge bank on child safety issues will be maintained that can benefit other students and teachers in the future. CPF and WhatsApp will work with key stakeholders at the national level such as education boards, national and state governments, on the key learnings of the project.