Better Internet for Kids

"During the COVID-19 pandemic and distance learning, more than ever, the safety of children and young people on the internet are highly important: digital skills and knowledge about online safety, as media literacy skills need to be thoroughly taught and regularly improved among children. Therefore, Safer Internet Day activities and the Safer Internet Centre’s resources aim to improve children’s skills about safe internet usage, not only on this day but every day,” said Maija Katkovska, Coordinator of the Latvian Safer Internet Centre.

The centre’s main event on Safer Internet Day focused on involving every digital citizen to test their knowledge about internet safety and media literacy by participating in a nationwide quiz. The quiz was about internet-related topics such as internet history, terms, various challenges, internet usage habits, and online safety. The quiz was organised in collaboration with Viktorina.lv, a platform that specialises in delivering live quizzes. People could participate in two ways:

• The first way: Playing a LIVE quiz on Tuesday, 9 February by joining the quiz platform at a certain time and competing with other participants of similar age. The LIVE quiz was organised in five age groups, reaching 310 participants.
• The second way: From Tuesday, 9 to Sunday, 28 February, an online quiz was available for everyone to participate in, at any time, by answering questions about internet safety. This option was chosen by more than 10,300 participants.

To help younger children aged 6 to 11 learn basic skills about internet safety, respectful and responsible behaviour on the internet, as well as meaningful use of technologies, the Latvian Safer Internet Centre has created a resource kit named “Wify’s Internet Alphabet”. The main characters in the resource kit are a boy, Wify (mascot), and his teacher Liene. The resource kit consists of 33 short films, worksheets, and advice for parents and teachers. Each short film represents one letter of the Latvian alphabet and a word related to safe internet usage. The short films are easily structured and highlight the key information of each topic, accompanied by recommendations for educators. The resource is designed in a child-friendly and easy-to-understand way to use during remote learning.

Also as part of Safer Internet Day activities, the Safer Internet Centre hosted the first online meeting of the Latvian Youth Panel in 2021 (in Latvian - JAP), welcoming old and new members. The panellists shared their thoughts about the day’s celebrations and also supported the event. JAP also came up with an initiative to create its own Instagram account to reach more young people to raise awareness of safe and responsible internet use among adolescents. Every active young person, aged 13-18, who wants to develop his or her digital competence, to acquire new skills, and share his or her knowledge with other young people in Latvia, is invited to become a member of the Safer Internet Centre’s Youth Panel.

Find out more about Safer Internet Day in Latvia. Alternatively, find out more about the work of the Latvian Safer Internet Centre, including its awareness raising, helpline, hotline and youth participation services – or find similar information for Safer Internet Centres throughout Europe.