The management of CZESICON – the Safer Internet combined node in the Czech Republic decided to take advantage of the invitation of Mr. Peter Samec, informatics teacher at the primary school Mirova in the city Usti nad Labem. The city recently became famous because of a short movie taken with a mobile-built-in-camera showing a real battle of two school classes of youngsters.

The movie was displayed on the internet and then on nationwide TV. There were not pupils of the Mirova school involved in the clash but the teacher decided to invite representatives of the Saferinternet.Cz to present the basic principles of safer internet use and discuss it directly with children. We decided to hold two sessions – one for the lower classes (age of 9-12) and another for upper classes (13-15).

What a surprising feeling to stand in the drill-hall of a school where more than 120 pupils are waiting to hear about how to behave on the internet. Just after a short introduction the discussion started. Young people were quite enthusiastic and asked different questions: technical (how to struggle against viruses and spam), ethical (how not to defame or insult) and juridical (copyrighted music and movies). The recent mobile-movie was also discussed, of course.

It is worth mentioning that the younger group showed a higher interest – the teens welcomed us with some suspicion. The discussion was interesting in both cases. Keeping this large group quiet was indeed a big challenge. However, the pupils were over all very polite and stayed involved until the very end of the lesson. The experience was very interesting and something to recommend to everybody dealing with children.

Zdenek Zalis, CZESICON