SINGAPORE — The issue of cyber wellness may be on the radar of most educators, but one secondary school has embarked on a different approach in getting across the message of good online behaviour.

The Anglo-Chinese School (Barker Road) yesterday sent its entire cohort of Secondary 1 students to six primary schools, where the older pupils assumed the role of good cyber behaviour advocates.

During the one-day programme, the Sec 1 students facilitated the younger primary school pupils in a discussion of stories compiled in an activity journal. The 10 stories are based on real case studies and feature discussion points for the primary school students on how they can help themselves or others in that situation.

The programme had 1,400 students from six primary schools taking part, up from the two schools in last year’s pilot run. ACS (Barker) Vice-Principal Aw Meng Yin, who called the project as one organised “for students by students”, felt that the older pupils would be able to relate to their younger peers. “The (age) gap isn’t too big, but yet significant enough for them (the primary school pupils) to recognise that these are secondary students that have come to speak to them,” she said.

Ms Foong Yin Wei, Principal of Greendale Primary School, one of the six participating schools, added: “I think this is a very good platform for our students to learn from someone other than their teachers.”

The programme was a culmination of a three-month-long cyber wellness education programme at ACS (Barker). The students attended talks by TOUCH Cyber Wellness, a local youth group, where they learnt issues concerning cyber wellness.

During English lessons, the students wrote essays, in the form of recounts, on cyber wellness issues, such as gaming addiction and cyber bullying. Ten of them were picked to be published in the Adventure Journal meant for primary school students. TOUCH Cyber Wellness counsellors then work with the students to craft answers to issues raised in their essays.

For participants and facilitators alike, the message of good online behaviour seemed to have worked.

Lim Hong Yi, a Primary 5 student at Greendale, said: “The one message I want to tell my friends is just to stay free from cyber bullying.”

For 13-year-old Shakti Manjojawani, the lessons learnt extended beyond the cyber world.

The Sec 1 student said: “Being a station master here, it is not easy handling a lot of the kids. Just four students and it’s quite difficult. So now I know how hard it is for my teachers and how they feel. I won’t be so noisy in class any more.”