Mumbai and New Delhi, September 27, 2021:  WNS Cares Foundation (WCF), the CSR arm of WNS, today announced that it has partnered with CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF), the nodal agency of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, Government of India, to educate over 7 lakh children and youth on the basics of cybersafety, using WCF’s CyberSmart platform.

In phase one, WCF will train 300+ facilitators from the CIF in next three months. These facilitators will further train 11,000 participants from 1,000+ NGOs, who will then educate nearly 2 lakh children on cybersafety using CyberSmart.In phase two, starting April 2022, over 5 lakh children and 1 lakh+ teachers, parents, partners and community members will be trained as well through CyberSmart platform.WNS will also partner with the CIF team to explore ways to improve efficiency, upgrade technology and streamline operations for their call centre that manages 1098 helpline, the core of CIF’s support system.

“The shared mission to protect children and nurture their growth forms the foundation of our collaboration with the CHILDLINE India Foundation. This partnership marks another milestone in our journey of forging strategic alliances to further the cybersafety agenda,” said Keshav R. Murugesh, Group CEO, WNS.

“Two enabling factors will ensure that WCF’s mission to make every child in India cybersafe gains further momentum – CyberSmart’s unique online and offline methodology, coupled with age-appropriate interactive modules, and CHILDLINE India’s expansive network and experience,” said Shamini Murugesh, Honorary Chief Mentor, WCF.

“Cybersafety has become a crucial aspect within the larger issue of child safety, especially in the wake of the pandemic due to the unprecedented unsupervised online exposure that children are experiencing. We are pleased to collaborate with WCF to seed cybersafe behavior among children,” said Dr. Anjaiah Pandiri, Executive Director, CHILDLINE India Foundation (CIF).

India’s first holistic cybersecurity education portal, CyberSmart enables gamified learning using thematic quiz-based modules based on curriculum advisory and challenges, that children encounter in cyberspace. It was launched nationally in May 2020 by Shri Ajay Prakash Sawhney, Secretary, MeitY, in partnership with NASSCOM, and is available in ten languages. Since the launch, CyberSmart has empowered more than 5 lakh learners including teachers, parents and students on traversing cyberspace safely.

In addition to CyberSmart, CIF will leverage WCF’s Digital Treasure, a free access, online repository housing quality curricular content and stories in multimedia formats. The portal’s content is available in various Indian languages. While WCF will also help CIF to develop a special cybersafety section on the CHILDLINE website, CIF will conduct sensitization training for WCF employees and volunteers on child protection.