By Abdul Ghani

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), alongside international partners, has scaled up efforts to shield children and young people from online risks.

According to a document available with Wealth Pakistan, the PTA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with TikTok in September 2023 to promote a safe and secure internet environment for young people. Under the initiative, training for parents, teachers and students has been completed in 100 government schools, benefiting 12,575 participants.

Educational and awareness material has also been developed under the programme, including a Children’s Toolkit, Digital Hifazat Workbook and Comic Book for students, along with Parents' Guidelines. The material has been uploaded on the PTA’s website for public access.

As part of the awareness campaign, five short videos were also developed and disseminated through social media, focusing on key online safety threats. The videos address protection from online predators, cyberbullying, hacking threats, hate speech, and misinformation.

The PTA has also been implementing a child online protection programme in collaboration with UNICEF. The telecom regulator signed an MoU with UNICEF on March 28, 2023, to safeguard children from online risks.

Under the collaboration, awareness posters on the Child Online Protection (COP) framework were disseminated through social media to guide users on safe and responsible internet use and encourage parents to protect children from online risks and hazards.

The document further states that a guidebook titled “Safeguarding Your Child in Digital Age”, developed in collaboration with UNICEF, Telenor and the National Response Centre for Cyber Crime (NR3C), was launched on February 20, 2024 and made available through the PTA’s website.

Complementing these digital efforts, a nationwide toll-free Child Protection Hotline (1121) has been designated for reporting child abuse. Concurrently, Pakistan is participating in UNICEF’s ongoing Disrupting Harm project.

The PTA-UNICEF collaboration has also resulted in a nationwide “Train the Trainer” programme designed to equip students, caregivers and teachers with essential skills to deal with online risks and dangers.

According to the document, 15 Master Trainers have been trained to further train 210 facilitators, who subsequently conducted awareness sessions benefiting more than 8,000 participants. Training sessions for partners and PTA officers were also held to strengthen institutional capacity.

These initiatives highlight the PTA’s growing focus on digital safety awareness among children, parents and educators as internet and social media use continues to expand.

Credit: INP-WealthPk