TikTok and Zindagi Trust have announced the extension of their partnership to drive digital safety awareness in Pakistan. This renewed collaboration, supported by the Ministry of Information Technology and Telecommunications, will impact over 50,000 beneficiaries across 100 public schools in all provinces of the country. The Pakistan Telecom Foundation has also joined the partnership to provide access to more schools for the campaign.
During the first phase of this partnership, over 20 workshops were conducted in two government schools, benefitting around 1800 students, teachers, and parents. The workshops provided comprehensive information on digital safety, including TikTok’s Community Guidelines and safety policies. Farah Tukan, Head of Government Relations and Public Policy – Middle East, Turkey, Africa, Pakistan and South Asia at TikTok, expressed her pleasure in extending the partnership with Zindagi Trust after the impact they jointly created during the first phase.
The signing ceremony took place between TikTok and Zindagi Trust in the presence of the MoITT, who endorsed the Digital Safety programme. Federal Minister for IT and Telecommunication, Syed Amin Ul Haque, highlighted the importance of working towards providing safer digital spaces, and Aisha Humera Moriani, Additional Secretary and CEO of the National Information Technology Board, emphasized the government’s commitment to building a safe cyberspace.
In the second phase of the collaborative programme, a digital safety toolkit will be developed to raise awareness amongst students, teachers, and parents. The toolkit will provide guidelines on navigating the digital realm responsibly and interactive activities to counter cyber harassment, bullying, scamming, fake news, etc. The toolkits will be disseminated during digital safety workshops conducted in different schools across Pakistan and made available digitally as well.
Zindagi Trust’s team, in partnership with TikTok, will provide training and consultancy to public schools that wish to launch the safety toolkit. Another important component of the programme will be building trusting relationships between parents and students to ensure students have trusted adults to rely on in case they find themselves in cyber trouble while parents have a transparent view of their children’s online lives.
The workshops will also educate teachers and parents on using safety features on platforms like TikTok to ensure their children remain safe on social media. For instance, they will be guided about TikTok’s Family Pairing features, which allow parents to link their TikTok account to their teens’ and set controls, including Screentime Management, Restricted Mode, and Direct Messages. This collaborative effort aims to promote digital safety awareness and ensure that young people in Pakistan have a safer online experience.
Also read this: https://www.skipper.pk/tiktok-strengthens-safety-commitment-through-launch-of-safety-ambassadors-programme/
