Cyber Wellness

MOE’s Cyber Wellness Curriculum in Schools

The goal of CW lessons is to equip students with life-long social-emotional competencies and sound values so that they can navigate safely and respectfully in cyber space and become responsible users of Information Communications Technology (ICT).

The four key messages for students are:

Embrace ICT yet maintain a balanced lifestyle between the physical and the cyber world
Harness the power of ICT for positive purposes
Maintain a positive presence in cyberspace
Be a safe and responsible user of ICT
Lessons are delivered via Form Teacher Guidance Period (FTGP).

The Cyber Wellness Framework

The CW framework is used to develop the child’s instinct to protect and empower himself to take responsibility for his own well-being in cyberspace. The three principles, ‘Respect for Self and Others’, ‘Safe and Responsible Use’ and ‘Positive Peer Influence’ when adhered to will augur well for a child’s well-being in cyberspace as he will then be able to make careful and well-considered decisions.

Key Principles

(1) Respect for Self and Others
Students need to:

uphold their own dignity when online (e.g. share appropriate content and participate in only legal online activities)
respect other people online (e.g. put themselves in others’ shoes, accept diverse views and opinions, give credit when using other people’s work and seek permission where necessary, avoid sharing hurtful materials).

(2) Safe and Responsible Use
Students need to:

have an understanding of the risks of harmful and illegal online behaviours, and take steps to protect themselves (e.g. keep their personal information private, verify the the reliability of information using various sources, take steps to avoid dangers they may encounter online).
make wise and healthy choices (e.g. maintain a healthy balance of their online and offline activities)

(3) Positive Peer Influence
Students need to:

be a positive role model online (e.g. share healthy and positive content, harness the affordances of technology to do good for society)
advocate positive online behaviour (e.g. stand up for their peers online, report cases of cyber bullying to a trusted adult/authority, post encouraging remarks on social media)

Sense-Think-Act @ Home

To complement the CW curriculum in school, parents can set a good example at home in the use of technology and play an active role in guiding our children to navigate in cyberspace. To ensure that their children are safe and have positive experiences online, parents can access the following guides for information: