The "Golden Pen" statuette went to the students and teachers of Warsaw's Primary School No. 360

“360 minutes on data protection, or personal data all round”  is an educational initiative carried out by Primary School No. 360 from Warsaw, which was honoured with a special "Golden Pen" statuette and at the same time won the first place in the UODO President's competition for schools.

The award ceremony for the competitions for schools and students participating in the 12^th edition of the nationwide educational programme “Your data – Your concern” took place on 21^st June 2022 in Warsaw. The awards were presented by Robert Tyszewicz, Director of the UODO, and Agata Jasztal, Director of the International and Constitutional Affairs Team at the Office of the Ombudsman for Children.

Winners awarded

The initiative of the Primary School no. 360 in Warsaw, which has been awarded a special distinction by the President of the UODO, is an activity promoting personal data protection issues and image protection as well as Internet safety among students and young people, combined with the publication of a series of lesson plans developed according to the ideas of students and teachers. The eight scenarios include, among others, Polish, history and civic education, English, computer science and mathematics lessons.

As Urszula Góral, Director of the International Cooperation and Education Department, emphasised when addressing the participants: – We see this programme as a dialogue between us, the older generation, and you, our future. We are very happy that, together with teachers, schools and the education community, we can jointly support the education of children and young people. She added that while the main purpose of the DPA's education programme is to support teachers in teaching children and young people, it is also a unique opportunity for adults to learn from students how they should approach privacy issues, in an age dominated by the use of new technologies and the widespread use of online services in everyday life.

The growing influence of the Internet on the lives of the young generation was also highlighted by Mikołaj Pawlak, Ombudsman for Children, who, as the programme's honorary patron, addressed a special letter to the winners and participants in the programme which was read out at the ceremony by Director Agata Jasztal.

The 12th edition of the “Your data – Your concern” programme is coming to an end

The past 12^th edition provided an opportunity to sum up the 12^th edition of the “Your data – Your concern” programme, which has come to an end. This school year, 307 schools participated in the programme. Schools have implemented 3543 lessons and 1296 educational initiatives – including 463 for the 16^th Data Protection Day. 44270 students participated in lessons, extra-curricular activities and thematic events. 5122 teachers were trained and involved to ensure that the idea of privacy and data protection is an important part of school education. Teachers training vocational centres are involved in the programme every year. For the past two years, they have been active in the programme as part of a network of teachers training vocational centres. Their activity has also been appreciated. Representatives of several centres present at the ceremony received special thanks for their contribution to the development of teachers' data protection competences.