Over 1 million students from Romanian public schools have benefited from at least one online safety lesson. They opened their hearts and talked about at least emotionally digital experiences, learned how to navigate safely, and how they can become Internet Heroes themselves.
All these students have either attended lessons taught by their teachers in class or enjoyed a visit from the Internet Heroes Caravan, an important part of the program of the same name developed by Google and organized in Romania by the Adfaber Association.
Sorin Ion, Secretary of State for Pre-University Education:
"At the Ministry of Education, we are proud of you"
Today, the children from School No. 49 welcomed Sorin Ion, the Secretary of State for Pre-University Education, Elisabeta Moraru, Country Manager of Google Romania, representatives of the Adfaber Association, and more.
Sorin Ion, Secretary of State for Pre-University Education, was impressed to meet some of the teams that won last year's Internet Heroes National Competition.
"I learned that you are the best in the country at something. In the end, it matters what you are good at, but to be the best in the country, no matter what it is, is exceptional. And I came to congratulate you and tell you that, at the Ministry, we see these things very nicely, and we are proud of you, the teacher, and the principal,"
said Sorin Ion.
"We have an extraordinary chance for a good future, as long as you are kind, courageous, strong, and intelligent on the internet,"
said Elisabeta Moraru, Country Manager of Google Romania, to the students.
Google supports the Internet Heroes program in Romania
Through the regional grant provided to support the Adfaber Association, teachers, parents, and students in Romania have access to online safety resources as part of the free program.
The Internet Safety Caravan, Internet Heroes, collects stories from students all over the country.
The caravan has already visited Galați, Focșani, Bacău, Iași, and surrounding areas. For two weeks, they are in Bucharest (May 23 - June 3). Then, from June 6 to 10, they will travel to Târgoviște, Brașov, Sibiu, Cluj, and Baia Mare. If you know a school in a rural area with students who do not have access to such programs, they would be happy to visit.
"Online is no different from real life in the sense that we need to be responsible there too. Starting early, we will also be advocates, teaching others, especially parents, how beneficial technology can be,"said Elisabeta Moraru, Country Manager of Google Romania, at the event.
The Romanian Police have joined discussions on online safety
The Adfaber team has been joined in implementing the Internet Heroes program by the Romanian Police through the Institute for Research and Crime Prevention. Crime prevention specialists visit schools around the country and talk to children about online safety, based on the Internet Heroes program.
The Internet Heroes Caravan, composed of the Adfaber Association team, is currently visiting schools in Romania, both in urban and rural areas, to ensure that more and more students have access to the information they need to stay safe in the digital world.
Students are concerned that their younger siblings have access to age-inappropriate platforms
What do students in Romania say? According to an Adfaber study, 90% of the students interviewed say that their parents do not know what is happening on the social platforms they spend time on. However, none of them have received any concrete explanations about the real situations they may encounter on these platforms.
Seventh and eighth graders say they are concerned that their younger siblings have access to platforms like TikTok or even Omegle. Moreover, 70% of them believe that their younger siblings should not have access to the platforms they use.
Among the stories told by students during the Internet Heroes Caravan visits is one from a seventh-grader in Galați.
“A girl approached me on Instagram, and after a few weeks of talking, she asked me for an indecent photo, which I sent. After a few minutes, I received a message asking me for 1,000 lei, so they wouldn't publish it or send it to all the teachers.”.
The same story was told by another third-grader in Focșani.
Another seventh-grade student from Ploiești shared a story where someone created a fake profile with his photo on Instagram and then insulted an underworld figure during a live stream. The next day, two men came to the school, roughed up the gatekeeper, and looked for the student who was believed to own the fake profile, unaware that it was indeed fake.
Over 20,000 teachers have participated in online safety training
In Romania for the past two years, the Internet Heroes program has trained 20,000 teachers, and thanks to their involvement, over a million students have benefited from at least one hour of discussion about online safety and have gone through the scenarios in the program.
According to an ADFABER survey, 8 out of 10 teachers who participated with students in the Internet Safety Caravan say they will continue discussions at school about the topics covered and the platforms where their students spend time.
The Internet Heroes program is dedicated to students in grades 0 to VIII. It offers educational materials, pedagogical support, lesson plans, online training, and courses for teachers, as well as webinars for parents.
Useful links for teachers:
Website program: https://adfaber.org/eroii-internetului/
Teacher resources: https://beinternetawesome.withgoogle.com/ro_ro/Educatori
Internet Heroes Program: https://adfaber.org/programa
Useful links for parents:
Family Guide – https://adfaber.org/ghid/
Family Link – https://families.google.com/familylink/
