Globe Telecom has partnered with the Department of Education (DepEd) in Region IX to bring its responsible digital citizenship program to all public schools in Zamboanga Peninsula, which includes the provinces of Zamboanga del Norte, Zamboanga Sibugay, and Zamboanga del Sur, as well as the two independent cities of Isabela and Zamboanga.

Together with the local government of Pagadian City and DepEd’s regional office in Region IX, Globe will introduce the Digital Thumbprint Program (DTP) to the growing number of student Internet users in the region to remind them of the importance of respecting human dignity while online and at the same time, ensuring their safety and well-being as cyber citizens. The program forms part of the digital nation roadmap created by Globe to promote the intelligent and judicious use of the Internet.

“We are happy to know that the program can help change the lives of the students when it comes to using social media. We hope that once this program is fully implemented in our division, we could see a significant increase in the digital responsibility awareness level among our students,” said Michael Jolo, IT Officer of the DepEd Isabela City Schools Division and President of the Isabela City ICT Council.

Yoly Crisanto, Globe Senior Vice President for Corporate Communications said: “The success of our Digital Thumbprint Program is largely due to the support of the Department of Education. For this particular implementation, we are grateful to DepEd Region IX and the local government of Pagadian. By working together with DepEd and other private sector partners, we are helping address UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 4 which ensures inclusive and equitable quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all. This also allows the youth today to realize the value of online safety and responsible digital citizenship. This is our proactive way of providing opportunities to young netizens to take advantage of available technologies fully.”

Globe also conducted the “Trainers’ Strand” of the DTP to key stakeholders of DepEd in Region IX through trained facilitators and workshop experts. These stakeholders, in turn, have the responsibility to share with other schools in the region what they have learned in the program.

DTP is composed of a series of workshops that aims to help create responsible digital citizens. The program was in response to the prominent role that the Internet now plays in the lives of many Filipinos,especially the youth who spends a significant amount of time online to do schoolwork, play games, or connect to various social media platforms. However, these “digital natives” also became exposed to a variety of issues like identity theft and worse, cyberbullying, which saw the need to educate them regarding the importance of responsible use of technology and the Internet.

The program has three informative modules for students such as “Digital Insight” which is designed to help students discern proper online behavior; “Digital Impact” which focuses on issues related to technology’s impact on students’ social activities; and “Digital Ambition” which aims to equip students with skills in using technology to help them achieve their life goals.

The modules were developed to expand students’ knowledge about digital citizenship and cybersafety by taking a critical look at their behavior when online and helping them develop insights into the influences of the online world and the choices they make. Specific content that puts emphasis on issues such as safety and security, responsibility and etiquette, and leadership and empowerment when the youth are online are also included in the workshops.

At present, the program, which runs alongside Globe Telecom’s award-winning Global Filipino Schools (GFS) initiative, already reached 6,374 students while 911 teachers were already empowered to share and teach the program to their students. For more about the Digital Thumbprint Program, visit www.globe.com.ph.