Safe Internet Center and GNR promoting digital literacy

In fulfilling its mission to promote safe Internet use and raise public awareness of the risks associated with Internet use, the Safe Internet Center—a project coordinated by FCT—is promoting a joint initiative with the GNR (National Republican Guard) from May 3 to 9, as part of the national project "Operation Seven Days with the Media." 

The partnership between the Safe Internet Center and the GNR seeks to be an effective aid in preventive action in relation to the deficit in media literacy and citizenship, creating alerts among a vulnerable age group for the need for caution when accessing information that reaches everyone through the use of the internet. 

Younger audiences are the main target of these 283 activities, which are taking place in schools across the country. Twelve thousand students from the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd cycles of education are participating in sessions held with the support of 507 military personnel from the GNR's Special Programs Sections.

Each action consists of presenting various relevant information about online safety, tailored to different age groups, exposing the dangers of the online world and ways to use the Internet safely in different areas: communication, socialization, accountability, and personal data protection. 

To supplement the information conveyed in the presentations, information materials will be distributed, provided by the Safe Internet Center (24,000 resources distributed), with details of everything young people need to know about preventing risky behavior inherent in Internet use, thus promoting safer and more conscious browsing.

The Safe Internet Center project, coordinated by FCT, also includes the Directorate-General for Education, the Portuguese Institute for Sport and Youth, and Microsoft as partners.

As a member of GILM (Informal Media Literacy Group), FCT, represented by the Department for the Information Society, is one of the entities responsible for identifying and intervening in the field of Media Education, and is thus one of the organizations promotingthe "Seven Days with the Media" initiative. Through various activities carried out in public spaces, this Operation aims to raise citizens' awareness of the role and place that traditional and new generation media occupy in their daily lives.