Thursday, 28th March 2024

Thursday, 28th March 2024

Student Ambassadors Creating a Better Internet through Kindness

04 Apr 2014

Student ambassadors, Gerald Lai and Ong Tao Jie from Ang Mo Kio Secondary School showcasing their cyber wellness initiatives.
Student ambassadors, Gerald Lai and Ong Tao Jie from Ang Mo Kio Secondary School showcasing their cyber wellness initiatives.

“Let’s Create a Better Internet Together” was the theme of this year’s Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme (CWSAP) Conference, calling on students to work together and be considerate of others when online. The conference, jointly organised by student leaders from the School of Science & Technology (SST) and Innova Junior College (IJC), was held over three days for students from more than 200 primary schools, secondary schools and junior colleges. A collaboration between the Ministry of Education and Media Development Authority, the CWSAP aims to provide an extended platform to engage students and promote peer advocacy in cyber wellness.

Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador Programme Conference 2014At the Conference for secondary school students on 26 March 2014, Dr William Wan, General Secretary of the Singapore Kindness Movement, gave a keynote speech, where he emphasised that kindness played an important role in creating a safe internet space for all. He also reminded students to be vigilant and considerate when engaging in online activities.

The CWSAP STAR Awards 2014 ceremony was also held to honour student ambassadors for their active involvement and efforts to promote cyber wellness education between student ambassadors and their peers. This year, the winners of the CWSAP STAR Awards are the School of Science & Technology, River Valley High School and Ang Mo Kio Secondary School (AMKSS).

Students from various schools were also treated to an exhibition on cyber wellness education efforts by various schools, as well as informative sharing sessions by the respective cyber wellness student ambassadors. Gerald Lai and Ong Tao Jie from AMKSS enthusiastically showcased their school’s cyber wellness initiatives, which included an AMKSS Cyber Wellness Student Ambassador’s Facebook Page that keeps AMKSS students updated on the various cyber trends and issues.

Monfort Secondary School's Cyber wellness student ambassadorsOver at Montfort Secondary School’s booth, students crowded around to hear more from its student ambassadors, Kouthaman Siraj and Husain Murtuza. Siraj shared that the most exciting part of being a student ambassador was working together with fellow ambassadors as a team to spread the word on cyber wellness. Husain added, “I truly enjoyed surveying the students in school as they shared their honest views on cyber bullying”.

With active participation across schools in Singapore, CWSAP 2014 continues the inter-agency effort to help students take an active leadership role as well as to share their knowledge on cyber wellness with one another.