Priti addresses the students taking part in the Be Internet Citizens Workshop at Honywood Community Science School, Coggeshall.
Priti Patel visits workshop on internet citizenship at local school
The Witham MP, Priti Patel dropped in on a ‘Be Internet Citizens’ workshop held at the Honywood Community Science School in Coggeshall on Friday 24th January.
The workshop is part of Google’s digital citizenship programme, run in partnership with the Institute for Strategic Dialogue and You Tube. The programme was launched in 2017 to empower young people aged 13-15 to be responsible and have a positive voice online through teaching them vital digital citizenship and critical thinking skills. Be Internet Citizens covers a range of topics including how to spot fake news, recognise divisive ‘us vs them’ narratives, respond effectively to online hate speech, and positively contribute to the online community. Priti contributed to the workshop with a short speech to the students taking part.
Priti, who joined the students during one of the workshop sessions, said: “This is a very important initiative that helps students to learn to use the internet wisely and positively, while teaching them to recognise and deal with many of its dangers. The safety and mental health of young people is of paramount importance in this day and age, when the internet is such a dominant but not always positive influence in our lives. Students who have attended this workshop will be very much better informed and safer when they go online.”
Elijah Lawal, online safety communications manager at Google said: “The internet is a creative space where young people can have a voice, be imaginative, and express themselves. With Be Internet Citizens, we want to help young people with their media literacy and encourage them to use their voices and creativity to have a positive impact online.”