More than 250 students from 62 ICSE-affiliated schools of Kolkata and its neighbouring districts learnt about social media and its impact on everyday life at a day-long workshop here.
The seminar, conducted by counsellors and cyber experts, deliberated on the positives and negatives of social media networks like Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and online video games, including Blue Whale challenge, Secretary of the Association of ICSE Schools in West Bengal, Nabarun De, told PTI.
“Every school was represented by three students - from 9th, 10th and 11th standards - and a teacher at yesterday’s workshop and the response was very encouraging,” he said.
De said these students will now interact with their classmates and juniors at their respective institutions and help spreading the message.
"Such interactions become necessary as smart phones are now an inevitable part of our lives and schoolchildren are not exception,'' Navneet Sharma, one of the teachers, who attended the workshop, said.
The workshop also sensitised students about the deleterious effects of smart phone addiction on their education and extracurricular activities, De said.
“We have always encouraged students to involve themselves in sporting activities and asked all member schools to encourage their peers to participate in on-field games, necessary for all-round development of young ones,” he said.