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THANKS TO THE CYBER PROTECTORS PROGRAMME, CYBER BULLYING AGAINST CHILDREN IN BULGARIA HAS DECREASED IN ONE YEAR
16 January 2023
Thanks to the Cyber Protectors programme, cyberbullying against children in Bulgaria has decreased by almost 20,000 cases in one year. This was shown by the latest research of the Black Sea Security Academy at Varna Free University and the State Agency for Child Protection. The Cyber Protectors programme was created to raise awareness among the general public and serve as a source of information in the field of prevention of cyberbullying of children online. It aims at reducing the cases of children’s injury in the cyberspace by recommendations developed by leading Israeli specialists.The survey of the State Agency for Child Protection and the Black Sea Security Academy was conducted among 1,273 schoolchildren in the territory of the Municipality of Varna. It shows that nearly 70% of children spend between 1 and 3 hours on the Internet every day. Almost all children surf through a mobile phone.
More than 50% of the respondents say that they log into social networks at least five times a day. However, social networks are one of the most dangerous places for children and adolescents when it comes to cyberbullying. The reason for this is the fact that parents and their children use different social networks and so it is difficult to control. This is what Vladimir Bronfenbrenner - secretary of the Black Sea Security Academy – said for Radio Varna.
A positive trend in this case is that over 70% of children share with their parents if they have a problem on the Internet. In order to increase the awareness of children, parents and teachers about the dangers of the Internet and cyberbullying, the Black Sea Security Academy conducts a number of training courses through the preventive Cyber Protectors programme . It is implemented in partnership with Israel, who are leaders in the protection of children in the online environment. Many training courses have already been held, and more are to come this year, the secretary of the academy said.
"Compared to last year's survey, this year's shows that the number of parents who care about their children's privacy settings is 4% higher. There are also more children who inform their teachers about some form of cyberbullying. The trend is also positive, that the number of teenagers who inform themselves about the dangers in the online space is decreasing and the percentage of those informed by school is increasing. Thanks to all this, the victims of cyberbullying in Bulgaria have decreased by 4%, which is about 20,000 students," explained Bronfenbrenner.
He advised parents to also be careful about the games their children play online, as according to the survey, 55% of children play with strangers. The ill-wishers use different tricks to lure potential victims, Vladimir Bronfenbrenner also noted.