28th February 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
According to campaigners, children as young as five years of age ought to be taught how to use the Internet safely in the digital age. This is due to an increased fear that children are being brought into contact with online pornography even being coerced into sending offensive images of themselves to others.
Every pupil at UK primary schools will be receiving an assembly from the charity ChildLine teaching children how to be safe when using the Internet. The charity says that it took over 3,745 calls relating to online abuse last year with the majority of callers being aged between twelve and fifteen. Claire Lilley from the NSPCC professed that one of the biggest current issues within child protection is that of online abuse. She said, ‘Young people tell us they are experiencing all sorts of new forms of abuse on a scale never before seen’.
For young people growing up in this day and age, the Internet and mobile phones have become an unavoidable element of their daily lives. Although there are huge educational and social benefits to this, it also comes replete with dangers. Campaigners have highlighted the growing problem that is cyberbullying and the fact that most teenagers see ‘sexting’ and hard core pornography as commonplace.
The NSPCC have called for schools to step in and prevent the issue from rowing out of hand as they believe that parents are struggling to keep abreast of it. The charity wants schools to teach lessons on Internet safety that would include tips to remain safe online while providing parents with advice on how to tackle the issue with their children.