Article 19, an international human rights organisation with a particular focus on freedom of expression, has called for digital literacy to be taught in the country’s schools through inclusion of relevant modules in the national curriculum.
That was one of the suggestions to come up Sunday during the inaugural lecture of a series on media laws, media ethics, and digital rights and safety, arranged by Article 19in collaboration with DW Akademie, the international media development arm of German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle.
Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Najmul Islam of the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of the Metropolitan Police Dhaka was the inaugural keynote speaker of the lecture series.
“With much of our daily activities being switched online due to the pandemic, it has now increasingly important to be digitally literate and be vigilant in understanding digital security measures with the increase of cybercrimes,” said Najmul Islam in the lecture held as a webinar.
The ADC’s presentation covered three important issues: the importance of Cybersecurity, awareness of extremism and the Dark Web, and lastly the role of the Cyber Crime Investigation Division of the Dhaka Metropolitan Police.
According to Islam, the country has 100 million internet users, of whom 40 million are also Facebook users.
He emphasized the importance of cybersecurity education for young people and to include digital literacy programmes in the school curriculum. These protection measures should start from homes at the individual and household levels, he said.
Additionally, digital media and technologies are now being increasingly used by extremists and terrorists to spread propaganda and attract recruits, he stated.
He requested parents to monitor their children’s online activity.
ARTICLE 19 as a part of its work on protection of freedom of information and online safety is working with the Cyber Crime Unit of the Police. It looks forward to continuing the collaboration in the future.
He informed that by calling 999/01769691522/01769691508 or using ‘Hello CT’ apps, people can more-and-more easily report cybercrimes. Other details about ARTICLE 19’s online curriculum can be found through their Facebook page.
