By :Inbal Bar-Gil Cacon-Neta@ Program Team Manager-Sderot, Ashkelon, Gaza Perimeter

Dear All

On Wednesday, February 17, 2010, Nofei HaBesor School in the Eshkol region held a Safe Internet Day. Neta@ Program students taught seventh and tenth graders at the school a class on how to safely and correctly use the Internet as part of their community involvement activity, which is an integral part of the program.

Sadly, we see many cases in which the internet, which is now such an important tool in every household, is being put to harmful and dangerous use, which has even led to death.

The children mainly focused on Internet identification, the correct and positive, rather than negative use of websites, and, of course, who is watching us. The way the Neta@ students delivered the topic was inspiring. They went into classrooms, presented the Neta@ program, and started teaching the lesson topic. In most classes (mainly in the younger grade), some very interesting discussion arose, the pupils gave examples of things that had happened to them, asked questions, and took great interest in the subject. The activity was considered a success, and the Neta@ educational staff and the school (including the principal) who supervised them said the fact that it was they who taught the subject, and not the teachers, added an vital dimension to the important messages they conveyed.

There are 14 students in the Eshkol Neta@ class. There is excellent cooperation with Partnership 2000, which guided us throughout the process (and on Safe Internet Day), the Council (Education Department), and the school which provided the classroom and worked closely with us on the social activity and our efforts to give to the community.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank our partners:

Partnership 2000 (Tal Klamer and Ali Verboff) who have worked with us on almost every  highlight event; Nofei HaBesor School (Vered Tal, the school principal, Orna Tzur, Liat, the schedule coordinator, and Meir Rosenberg), Yulia from Neve Eshkol, our team of instructors in Eshkol, who put their heart and soul into the work - Ariel, the program's Social Coordinator in Eshkol who provides guidance for the group, imbuing them with the spirit of volunteerism and giving, and Omer, the technological instructor who teaches them so professionally and gives so much extra in order to make sure that they pass their final certifying examination. And of course our pupils, who attend the activities despite any difficulties or obstacles that occasionally arise.

The link to the photographs and video clips we took of the event is:

http://picasaweb.google.com/netasderot2010/FbQDoH?feat=directlink

I look forward to working together in future.

Inbal