Text education is coming to Canadian schools, thanks to a new curriculum that sheds light on the dangers of sexually explicit mobile messages, textual harassment, and other potential pitfalls linked to youths’ wireless communication, reports the Vancouver Sun. The pilot textED.ca course will be introduced to 100 Grade 7 classrooms across the country this month, with full program implementation in September, according to a joint announcement being made Jan. 21 by the Canadian Center for Child Protection and the Canadian Wireless Telecommunications Association. The initiative, thought to be the first of its kind in Canada, aims to address what police call “an education gap” that has made young people vulnerable to a swath of text-related risks. A recent report by the Pew Research Center found 15 percent of youth ages 12 to 17 had received sexually suggestive photos or videos on their personal cell phones. A similar survey for LG Electronics last year suggested the number is even higher, with 22 percent of teens claiming to have received a naked picture on their mobile phone. The textED.ca curriculum addresses the potential costs of such behavior, along with other texting concerns such as harassment, privacy, and “text-luring…”
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