On October 7, 2016, the Federation Council had a meeting on holding the Joint Web Security Lesson, which will be taught this year on October 27-30 in all Russian schools.
The main objective of the event is to raise the level of digital literacy among children and, in particular, to teach everyone about safe use of the internet, privacy when using information technology and protection from harmful content and malware.
The initiative to conduct internet security lessons was put forward by Chairperson of the Federation Council Valentina Matviyenko, who also chairs the Presidential Coordination Council for Implementing the 2012-2017 National Children’s Strategy. Such lessons were taught for the first time in 2014, involving 11 million schoolchildren.
In 2016, the list of activities to be held as part of the Joint Web Security Lesson includes the Explore Internet – Govern It online championship, founded and organized by the Coordination Center for TLD .RU/.РФ. The championship is part of the similarly named educational project for schoolchildren, aimed at easily accessible game exploration of the capabilities and principles of the internet.
“The Explore Internet – Govern It project was developed by the Coordination Center in 2012 as part of the program to enhance the digital literacy of Russian users. Every year, supported by relevant organizations and agencies, we hold the online championship, where students compete for first place in an individual and team competition. In 2015, the championship involved a record number of students – almost 16,000,” Denis Zhilin, head of social and educational projects at the Coordination Center, said at the meeting. “This year, the online championship will be held for the fifth time. I would like to note that all tasks and questions of the 2016 championship are devoted to internet security – protection from network threats, the fight against cybercrime, data privacy and social network security.”
Denis Zhilin also said that those who want to participate should fill out an application form on the championship’s website before October 17, 2016. The championship will start on October 18 and last until November 18, 2016.
“I’m glad that the championship is part of the Joint Web Security Lesson initiative. We are ready to support it in the future – not only by conducting thematic activities, but also through our own information channels,” he said.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Director of General Education State Policy Department of the Ministry of Education and Science Alexei Blaginin, Director of the Foundation for Internet Development Galina Soldatova, Director of the Internet Development Institute Yekaterina Rudykh, Head of the Setvichok project Sergei Abramov, Advisor to the Director of the Russian State Children’s Library Natalya Arakcheyeva and others.
