In an era where technology and the internet pervade all aspects of our lives, it has become crucial to build a strong understanding of online safety, especially among young people. To facilitate this, YLAC has initiated the Digital Champions Program – an intervention that supports high school students across the nation to develop a strong foundation of digital citizenship skills. The program aims to provide students with knowledge about different aspects of digital safety and well-being, and equip them with tools to deal with potential threats and risks on the internet. Through the Digital Champions Program, our vision is to empower students to become conscious consumers of information available in the digital world and foster a healthier, more meaningful relationship with technology.
See: Program Structure and Delivery | Themes and Sections | Content | Impact So Far | Contact Us
Program Structure and Delivery
The Digital Champions Program focuses on students in grade 8 and above. Currently, it is run via a school collaboration model, wherein schools come on board to disseminate the content to students enrolled in their school. The program design and curriculum is:
Self-paced
The curriculum can be deployed in online, offline, or hybrid mode and can be comfortably completed in a total duration of 8 hours, over a course of 4 to 12 weeks.
Context-sensitive, bilingual
The content has been designed keeping in view the diverse requirements of students from different regions, states, and boards of education; it is available in both Hindi and English. In order to make it easily scalable and reach remote audiences, the content is delivered through widely accessed messaging platforms in low tech school environments – mainly, WhatsApp.
Flexible and engaging
The program duration of 8 hours is spread across two months, so it can be adapted to school calendars. It is designed in a way that students need to devote a maximum of 1 hour a week. The program is delivered via engaging videos, accompanied by complementary handouts, and quizzes to check for understanding.
Themes and Sections
Safe Access
To stay safe from various online threats, it is essential to be able to identify and consciously avoid these threats. This section on digital safety introduces students to concepts of security and privacy in the context of the digital world. It discusses common digital threats such as hacking, data mining, identity theft, etc, and informs students of the measures they can undertake to secure their privacy on commonly used social media platforms.
Digital Well-being
To ensure that students have a healthy experience in the virtual world, this section focuses on the need for controlling and managing our experiences online. The goal is to equip students with knowledge to deal with threats such as online sexual harassment and cyberbullying. Considering the growing popularity of online gaming, this section also throws light on the safety risks that accompany gaming and ways to deal with them.
Digital Information Ecosystem
With a plethora of information available at the click of a button, the lines between real and false information are often blurred online. This section informs students about the most common forms of misinformation and suggests ways to identify them and take proactive action.
Digital Agency
The concluding section of the program synthesises learnings from all sections and talks about ways of utilising the internet for personal growth as well as societal development. It encourages students to adopt harmless and positive behaviours online, and suggests ways to cope with negative emotions resulting from their online interactions. Examples of productive uses of digital platforms are shared with students to inspire them to think of their own ideas for using the internet as a tool for growth.
Content
Our video playlists in English and Hindi cover program themes in a fun and interactive manner
English
Hindi
Content Booklet
Our content booklet contains links to videos, handouts and engaging worksheets for students.
Impact So Far
10
States and UTs
68
Schools
464
Teachers trained
10,469
Students
Collaborations
Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights (DCPCR)
Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi
Directorate of Education (DOE)
Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi
Contact Us
For Teachers
If you are a teacher or a school principal interested in running the Digital Champions Program in your school and have any queries, please feel free to contact us at [email protected] or call us at the provided number.
For Students
If you are a student in grade 8 or above and interested in joining the Digital Champions Program, kindly reach out to your school administration and request them to contact us at [email protected].
Questions
+91-11-4307-7660
Our office hours are Monday to Friday,
between 10AM to 6PM.
