Be Internet Awesome is Google’s free multifaceted program designed to teach kids the fundamentals of digital citizenship and online safety. Particularly, it is focused on five important topics: how to be smart, alert, strong, kind, and brave on the internet. It contains several teaching materials and related resources that can help teach digital literacy concepts to children with the help of teachers and parents.  

"The internet is a crucial part of everyday life. For kids and students, it opens up many opportunities to play, learn, and connect. However, it also exposes them to risks that adults face too. With Be Internet Awesome, we hope to help parents and educators in promoting and teaching digital responsibility inside and outside of the classroom--to raise the next generation of netizens who’s more smart, alert, strong, kind, and brave online. We will continue to work closely with the Department of Education and other partners from across sectors to bring Be Internet Awesome to more students and communities nationwide," said Bernadette Nacario, Country Director of Google Philippines. 

Together with the Department of Education (DepEd), Google implemented a pilot run of Be Internet Awesome in the Philippines to test it and gather feedback that could help improve the program further. The pilot run was conducted in more than 20 schools from across Antipolo, Makati, Mandaluyong, Pasig, and Nueva Ecija. With over 50 teachers, a total of 2,014 students from grades four to eight were taught about the lessons of Be Internet Awesome. 

The results of the pilot run were encouraging. The students gave a high rating between 90% and 94% across key attributes of Be Internet Awesome. They said that it helped them learn valuable internet safety tips and it is essential for them to learn it in the digital age. Meanwhile, the teachers found the content highly relevant and said that they have more ideas to further build it. 

"Educating students about digital responsibility is imperative and using Google's Be Internet Awesome is an effective way to do this. We’d like to thank Google for launching an important program that will equip our teachers and parents with the accessible resources they need to teach digital citizenship. Coming from the success of the pilot run, this program holds great potential to educate more students nationwide. The Department of Education will continue to work closely with Google to potentially integrate Be Internet Awesome into the national curriculum so it can be formally taught in the classroom," said Leonor Magtolis Briones, Secretary of the Department of Education.

Be Internet Awesome’s website in the Philippines is available in English and Filipino. Visit them to learn more about the program and access its resources.