A group of Tongan secondary school students took part in a ‘Stop, Block & Tell’ program which developed one-minute videos for television and raise awareness on cyberbullying.

The program which hopes to create a coordinated national approach against cyberbullying is an initiative by Talitha Project.

Partners are Tonga Cyber Safety Working Group under Tonga Cyber Emergency Response Team, Tonga Police, Digicel and other stakeholders. 

Students from Tonga High School, Takuilau College, St Andrews and 'Apifo'ou College each produced videos [2] with powerful messages.

Vanessa Heleta, founder of the Talitha Project said today the program aimed to engage young people in raising cyberbullying awareness and response planning to create messaging that reflects their behaviours, needs and rights as digital citizens.

Apart from the students, Talitha mentors also created a one-minute video to educate parents to better monitor their children online.

“Education is the key to take responsibility while online. We need to also teach our children and particular us adults to think is it true, harmful, illegal or necessary. Cyberbullying includes sending, posting, sharing negative, harmful, false or mean content about someone else. It has affected many livelihoods,” she said.

The videos will be aired for free on Digi TV starting on August 4 for five-months.

The program funded by PACMAS, Pacific Women, Australian Aid, UN Women and Digicel was launched on July 31 at the Top Restaurant.