Dubai Police will launch an awareness campaign in schools urging pupils to avoid surfing and chatting on social media sites when they are in school following complaints from parents about the practice.

They would also coordinate with the Ministry of Education to address the issue and recommend banning online engagement by pupils while at schools.

Brigadier Dr Mohammad Al Murr, Director-General of the General Directorate of Human Rights at Dubai Police, said many parents have told him that their children are staying online for a long time when they are at schools.

Brigadier Al Murr said: “Parents said their children stay online for a long time on sites like Facebook and Snapchat, and that they are annoyed. The parents said they can control their children when they are at home but they can’t do anything when they are at schools.”

Dubai Police said they had run many awareness campaigns in schools about the dangers of social media as the children can be abused and blackmailed by strangers and perverts.

Fake reality

“Social media [sites] make the pupil live in a fake reality and make him/her lose focus on lessons taught in the school.”

He said the directorate would coordinate with the Ministry of Education to find a solution.

Colonel Abu Bakr Al Jasmi, Director of the Women and Child Protection section at the police’s Human Rights Department, said when parents question the pupils, they claim that they are only checking their social media accounts during break time.

“The parents said they have noticed that their children have been spending hours on social media while they are at schools. Pupils are using their smart phones inside the schools away from teachers’ eyes,” Colonel Al Jasmi said.

Some pupils also film their teachers on their smart phones and post the images or videos on social media without realising that it’s illegal to do so, he said.

“The pupils can face legal action for recording teachers’s clips and posting them on social media. The campaign will educate the pupils about the need to to be careful when they are on social media.”