British schools must monitor internet to prevent radicalisation: Minister

‘This includes ensuring young people know how to use the internet responsibly and that parents and teachers have the right measures in place to keep children safe from exploitation or radicalisation’.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan has reportedly chose to look into those educated by their parents after the Government previously pledged to clamp down on madrassas teaching anti-Semitic beliefs. By monitoring the usage of the internet in schools, the United Kingdom government is hoping to prevent similar situations from happening in the future.

Ofsted has been handed extra resources to identify and prosecute the operators of illegal schools, and a senior government source told the Independent on Sunday that for every parent “doing a brilliant job” when it came to home education, there may be someone “filling their child’s mind with poison”.

The reforms, which have been published for consultation, outline a range of possible measures ministers could take to tackle online radicalization and cyberbullying.

While many schools already have filters and monitoring arrangements in place, guidance is being strengthened to ensure that all schools in England with IT systems use these and to ensure that any concerns are spotted quickly.

There have been several cases of school children travelling or attempting to travel to Syria.

Ms Morgan announced a crackdown on unregistered schools or “weekend madrassas” after some were found to promote extremist ideology.

The internet is full of content that children at a young age should not be exposed to.

In one of the latest cases, in February, three schoolgirls from Bethnal Green Academy flew from Gatwick to Istanbul en route to Syria to become “jihadi brides”.

Published today, it suggests children should be taught about the risks that images they post online will be captured and broadcast to a huge audience if they are not careful about their privacy settings.

The document said that because colleges and schools do more work online, “it is essential that they be safeguarded from potentially harmful and inappropriate online material”.

“They will equip parents with the information they need for their children to explore the internet safely, and will be instrumental in helping new tech start-ups to routinely factor safety features into the design of their products and platforms”.