Gateway College Negombo wins Gold Award for Community Service
Gateway College Negombo won the Gold Award for Community Service at the recent Pearson Edexcel Awards Ceremony held at BMICH Colombo.
The primary objective of the community service project of Gateway College Negombo was to develop the understanding of the parents regarding the dangers of social media,internet and the various apps and make them sensitive to the issues that children are faced with today. The project that was fully driven by the senior students of the school, was aimed at empowering parents by making them aware of the increasing level in cybercrime and to make them realize that the issues that the children are faced with can only be resolved by guiding and advising their children with love and compassion.
The secondary task of the project was to improve communication and trust between parents and children. The students alerted the parents on the value of ‘family’ and encouraged them to communicate with their children on a daily basis. It was shown that such regular communication can help to close the distance that the digital age may bring about.
Approaching the parents and advising them was quite a challenge to the students.The students were naturally concerned about the cultural barriers that exist in society and whether the parents will be comfortable to take the advice of the teenagers. Thus, they adopted their own ways of reaching out to the adults. They addressed the parents in churches after Holy Mass. On Poya days they went to the temples and sang BakthiGeetha and thereafter took the opportunity to speak to the parents. They organised awareness programmes in fishing villagesand among three wheeler communities. With these activities the students were able to convey their message to parents of all strata in society. What was outlined to parents was that they should be aware of the dangers associated with technology but that they need not be techsavvyto deal with the issues that the children are faced with. Rather, what is important is for them to listen, communicate and spend time with their children and strengthen the ‘family’ with love and respect to their children.