On the 20^th October, NCSA and partners from the Ministry of Education, MTN Rwanda and Airtel Rwanda, joined students from Gashora Girls Academy of Science and Technology, Groupe Scholaire Dihiro, and New Explorers Girls Academy, for a cybersecurity awareness event on child online safety.

The event falls in line with the global observance of the cybersecurity awareness month, while specifically for Rwanda, the National Cyber Security Authority (NCSA) is organizing events such as these as part of the ‘Tekana kuri interineti’ national awareness campaign, which is sensitizing the public on cybersecurity best practices and their rights to personal data protection and privacy.

The event specifically focused on sharing cybersecurity best practices with students from the three schools, with an aim to equip them with the knowledge to study safely online, and continue to use the internet securely for their personal growth and development.

Children are in need of constant cybersecurity awareness. Cyberbullying, online grooming, access to inappropriate content and online scams, are all cyber threats that can harm the development of a young person.

NCSA encourages parents, teachers and guardians to be aware of all that the children in their care are doing online, so that they can supervise their use of the internet and technology.

References:

https://cyber.gov.rw/updates/article/how-do-you-protect-childrens-personal-data-2/

https://cyber.gov.rw/updates/article/how-does-the-data-protection-and-privacy-law-protect-childrens-data-1/

For more on the campaign:

cyber.gov.rw/cyber-month/