Ministry of Education and Community Chest of Korea Also Collaborate
Five Samsung Electronics Affiliates Including Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Samsung SDI Participate
[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] Samsung Group is partnering with the Blue Tree Foundation, a specialized organization for preventing youth violence, to launch education programs aimed at preventing the rapidly increasing youth cyberbullying.
On the 20th, Samsung announced that it held a business agreement ceremony for the 'Blue Elephant' youth cyberbullying prevention education project in collaboration with the Blue Tree Foundation, the Ministry of Education, and the Community Chest of Korea. The ceremony took place at the Blue Tree Foundation headquarters in Seocho-gu, Seoul, with attendees including Park Baek-beom, Vice Minister of Education; Moon Yong-rin, Chairman of the Blue Tree Foundation; Ye Jong-seok, Chairman of the Community Chest of Korea; and Sung In-hee, President of Samsung’s Corporate Social Responsibility Division. Five Samsung affiliates related to IT?Samsung Electronics, Samsung Display, Samsung SDI, Samsung Electro-Mechanics, and Samsung SDS?participated in the project.
The Blue Elephant project is a newly launched program under Samsung’s CSR vision, "Together for the Future! Enabling People." Samsung explained that the project name combines the image of elephants, which protect each other in herds, with Samsung’s symbolic blue color. It represents six prosocial virtues: honesty, promise, forgiveness, responsibility, consideration, and ownership.
Samsung stated that with the widespread use of mobile devices, cyberbullying is rapidly spreading in real-time and occurring in invisible spaces, making it difficult to grasp the actual situation and emerging as a social issue. According to last year’s cyberbullying survey by the Korea Communications Commission, 45.6% of youth reported experiencing cyberbullying.
The Blue Elephant project will be conducted from March this year targeting elementary, middle, and high school students nationwide, as well as teachers and parents. Samsung plans to build a website and application to enable the Ministry of Education, local communities, and youth to easily participate in cyberbullying prevention activities. Through this platform, a one-stop service will be provided?from youth cyberbullying reporting to prevention education involving experts, and counseling and treatment for affected youth.
Additionally, by the first half of this year, Samsung will train teachers and develop educational content to start cyberbullying prevention education for students and parents at 20 elementary schools in Seoul and Gyeonggi Province from September. Samsung explained that the program will later expand nationwide to operate in elementary, middle, and high schools. Various programs including on-site education, online education, and campaigns will be conducted for 300,000 people annually.
To this end, Samsung plans to implement cyberbullying prevention education to strengthen youth’s prosocial capabilities and reduce cyberbullying, as well as support healing for affected students. Samsung will also provide approximately 1.3 billion KRW annually from this year through the Community Chest of Korea, and employees will participate in website and application development, campaigns, and prevention education.
The Blue Tree Foundation, as a specialized organization for youth violence prevention in Korea, will lead the project by conducting cyberbullying surveys, producing and operating prevention education content, and establishing cyberbullying prevention systems. The Ministry of Education and the Community Chest of Korea will support smooth project implementation by cooperating with elementary, middle, and high schools to provide policy recommendations, administrative support, and project promotion.
Chairman Moon said, "'Blue Elephant' is a social contribution model where NGOs, corporations, and public institutions collaborate. We will take the lead in establishing a proactive and sustainable prevention platform to prevent cyberbullying in the rapidly changing cyber environment."
President Sung said, "We will pool Samsung’s resources and capabilities to contribute to solving the social issue of youth cyberbullying."
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