Butterflies in the stomach, new pencil case in the bag. Monday is the first day of school for tens of thousands of expectant children. In Drammen, the youngest pupils in 1st to 3rd grade will use iPads with a completely different lock than before. Before the summer, it was discovered that pupils could access pages with, among other things, pornographic content. – I was shocked, and very uneasy, says mother and MDG politician Cathrin Janøy. She contacted the municipal head of daycare and school, Thomas Larsen Sola, who immediately took action. – We have introduced a so-called whitelist. This means that all the websites on the iPads are blocked, and then the school and the teacher must open the pages they need for educational use, he tells news. Large deviations were found – I would like to believe that this is a challenge in all municipalities in Norway, says Christer Veland Aas, general manager of Climbr. The company has produced a report on digitalisation of the school. The survey shows that children and young people are not protected against harmful content, and that they are bombarded with advertising on the schools’ digital devices. Technology advisor Christer V. Aas is behind the report. Photo: Terje Haugnes / news 372 parents from all over Norway participated and 103 municipalities are represented. From 100 of the 103 municipalities, it is reported that harmful content can be downloaded onto children’s school screens. Among the content mentioned are violence, sex, porn, suicide, animal abuse, torture and war. Some of the parents have also submitted images of tests they have carried out on their children’s devices, and these tests show that 42 per cent come up with porn images when they search in Google. – The schools often have a standard filter, which does not block sufficiently. As a result, the children are exposed to a lot of advertising, and the school must be advertising-free. In the worst cases, we have been given access to gross pornography on the iPads of first graders. It’s pretty rough, says Aas. In-depth security check Thomas Larsen Sola told Drammens Tidende before the summer holidays that they would examine the equipment, and now the new plans are in place. – We are happy about that, because I suspected that there were extensive breaches of children’s privacy and the Marketing Act. My primary fear is that they will be exposed to harmful content and be influenced by aggressive marketing, says Janøy. She got Christer Veland Aas to come to Drammen. Although there was a lock on the iPads, an in-depth check of the security showed that it was not good enough. – National guidelines are needed here, it cannot be up to each individual municipality or each individual parent. There are also many schools that do not have the resources or expertise to know what to do, says Janøy. – There is respect for what Drammen has done, after they turned around. This is a very effective measure, says Aas. – Get an alarm clock The municipal manager in Drammen will not get involved in what other municipalities are doing. – I think every municipality probably has a big focus on this, and then you sometimes get a wake-up call, which means that we have to go through our systems. Municipal manager Thomas Larsen Sola takes action. Photo: Tore Linvollen / news – In principle, the iPads are supposed to be safe, but even so we had deviated from this. Therefore, we have reviewed this completely, and start by preventing anyone from accessing unwanted pages. Although the schools now hope to get control, many children have both mobile phones and other devices at home. – Pupils surround themselves with digital devices at home as well. We have a responsibility to teach them digital judgement, in collaboration with the home. Published 17.08.2024, at 20.09 Updated 17.08.2024, at 20.22
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Removes internet on tablets for the youngest pupils – news Buskerud – Local news, TV and radio
