Parents, guardians urged to guide kids on online safety

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Education is urging parents and guardians to be pay more attention to their children's activities online in light of news about a so-called "Momo challenge" and similar "online challenges that reportedly lead to self-harm and suicide among the youth."

In a statement, DepEd said adults need to maintain open communication with their children and educate them about responsible online behavior. The department urged adults to "help [children] understand that their parents and guardians are the foremost people they can trust about matters that make them feel uncomfortable, coerced, or unsafe."

The "Momo challenge", which reportedly involves children getting messages encouraging them to hurt themselves, has been in the news this week, although indications have since emerged suggesting it is a hoax.

The Guardian has reported that the UK Safer Internet Centre has dismissed the supposed challenge as "fake news". YouTube has also said it has seen "no evidence of videos showing or promoting the Momo challenge" on its website.

Despite that, the death of an 11-year-old Filipino boy this week has been linked to the supposed challenge.

RELATED: DICT, Facebook work to dismantle 'Momo challenge'

DepEd said schools are also supposed to emphasize to learners the importance of online safety, which it said is just as important physical safety. Teaching this is done "through age-appropriate and contextualized lesson plans that enable them to still appreciate the internet as a safe and enjoyable platform of learning," DepEd said.

It also said that the school curriculum is meant to "[equip] learners with the proper competencies that enable them to discern online issues, threats, and information authenticity through 21st century skills that are honed across all grade levels in all subject areas in the K to 12 Curriculum."

It said students are taught to critique data and information from Grade 1 to Senior High School in sbjects like Filipino and English.

"Media and information literacy (MIL) skills are likewise being sharpened among learners as early as Grade 4, specifically in the subject Edukasyong Pantahanan at Pangkabuhayan. In Grades 11 and 12, skills that aim to cultivate creative and critical thinking among learners, thereby enabling them to handle online content, are given utmost priority in the core subject MIL and the applied subject Empowerment Technologies," DepEd also said.

The department said it is also working on strengthening the implementation of its Child Protection Policy, which includes online safety.