The Functional Area of High Inspection of Education of the Government Delegation in La Rioja organizes the First Educational Day for Families "Internet Risks", which provides for the holding of three training sessions taught by the Civil Guard and National Police. Specifically, these talks will be held, from 18.30 to 20.30 hours, on April 22 at the Casa de Cultura de Arnedo, on April 25 at the Palacio de Bendaña de Haro and on April 30 at the IES Sagasta de Logroño.
The delegate of the Government in La Rioja, Beatriz Arraiz Nalda, the director of the Functional Area of High Inspection of Education, Emilia Fernández Núñez, presented this morning, framed in the Master Plan for coexistence and improvement of security in educational centers and their environments. In the appearance before the media, Deputy Inspector Ramón Vila Souto and Officer Gemma Ichaso Jimenez, of the Citizen Participation Unit of the National Police, and the civil guards Miguel Ángel Sáez López and Sara Díez González, of the Peripheral Communication Office of the X Zone, have also participated.
Arraiz Nalda explained that according to the data of the Master Plan for the coexistence and improvement of security in schools and their environments in the academic year 2022-2033, in La Rioja 500 talks were given in Rioja educational centers, attended by a total of 13,624 students and other members of the educational community - teachers and parents.
Of all the talks given, the most demanded were related to internet risks (197), followed by school bullying (140), drugs, alcohol and vandalism (67) and gender violence (61). Another 35 were addressed to Ampas and teachers.
“Year after year we see the great reception of this Plan among the educational field, being one of the biggest concerns the correct use of the Internet and the risks that may arise in this environment,” said the delegate.
Therefore, it has been decided to organize this First Training Day to sensitize and alert families about the safe use of the Internet and social networks.
Internet risks
For her part, the director of the Functional Area of the High Inspection of Education, Emilia Fernández Núñez, recalled that the Master Plan for the coexistence and improvement of safety in educational centers and their environments has as its main objective the coordination between the educational community and the Security Forces and Bodies to provide the youngest ones with the knowledge and the necessary tools in different areas. This Plan aims to prevent or detect risk situations that may affect the safety of our students with measures aimed at raising awareness, prevention and early detection of risk situations related to the safety of children and adolescents in educational centers and their environments.
To this end, activities are carried out to improve knowledge about the different forms of violence and risk factors to which they may be exposed and to warn about their possible consequences. The Government Delegation promotes training and information activities and lectures in educational centres aimed at students and the rest of the educational community and given by police professionals who are experts in the field.
In these talks, we work on respect for fundamental rights and freedoms, and on the values of dignity and equality between men and women, and on the need to eradicate violent behavior from the school environment.
Likewise, Fernández Núñez pointed out that “within this Master Plan, emphasis is placed on raising awareness not only of Rioja students, but also of their families and teachers of the risks related to content, contacts and behaviors that may occur in the field of information and communication technologies”.
These risks include, but are not limited to, violent and sexual content, online sexual exploitation or assault, pornography, non-consensual pornography, sexual extortion, cyber-aggression and cyber-bullying, cyber-hate, identity theft, gambling, or the promotion of viral challenges that endanger physical integrity.
On the other hand, the director of the Functional Area of High Inspection of Education has explained that different studies suggest that nine out of ten teenagers, between ten and fifteen years old, have access to the Internet and seven out of ten have a mobile phone. For the first time in Spain, and according to the National Institute of Statistics, the proportion of children under ten to fifteen years of age who have a mobile phone exceeds 70%.
By territories, Extremadura and La Rioja are the communities where more children under 15 have a smartphone, in particular, 82.5% of the total in our autonomous community.
According to Save the Children, teenagers discover pornography for the first time at the age of twelve and seven out of ten consume this content frequently, with the majority of violent and degrading pornography content mainly directed at women.
This context, which is in addition to the fact that experts insist on the need to exercise greater parental control and training, has led the High Inspection Area of Education to organize this First Educational Day for Families “Internet Risks”, in which we collaborate with FAPA Rioja and CONCAPA, as well as with the Civil Guard and National Police, fundamental pieces such as experts in sensitizing and alerting families to the reality faced by their children.
In this regard, he added that it is essential to identify the risks of the Internet and know how we can face them, how to prevent or, if necessary, detect if a child is being subjected to cyberbullying, both by adults and by other minors, what tools can help us protect our children in their use of mobile phones and the Internet, or what measures the law puts at our disposal in case their rights are violated
For all of these reasons, Fernández Núñez has encouraged the attendance of these fundamental talks for the protection of minors. “Acquiring knowledge and skills in the safe and responsible use of the Internet by children and adolescents is an increasingly growing need, linked, without any doubt, to training by teachers and parents. Any prevention of the risks they face is a priority,” he concluded.
Finally, the Deputy Inspector of Citizen Participation of the National Police, Ramón Vila Souto, has insisted that the involvement of families is basic for the habitual follow-up and guidance of minors. “It’s just as important to know who they relate to in their real life as the virtual one,” he said. For his part, the spokesman of the Civil Guard in La Rioja, Miguel Ángel Sáez López, has expressed the importance in training to bridge the digital divide between generations.