SINGAPORE: A new computer game to educate children about cyber wellness was launched on Friday at Holy Innocents' Primary School.

The event was attended by Minister of State for Education & Home Affairs Masagoes Zulkifli.

Headed by the National Crime Prevention Council (NCPC), the game "Cyberonia" is the first of its kind in Singapore.

The online game allows children to build their own houses, factories and recreational centres, while taking care of their citizens.

But the game is not just fun and games.

While playing, children will be quizzed on topics such as gaming addiction, virus protection and proper online etiquette.

Before Cyberonia was launched, a pilot programme had been rolled out at Holy Innocents Primary, Casuarina Primary School, Lian Hua Primary School and Qifa Primary School.

Students at Holy Innocents Primary School tried out the game on Friday.

One student said: "It's challenging and fun to play with. One of the mini games is about privacy. We need to produce the right alphanumeric password for the people so that other people cannot guess easily the passwords".

Another said: "I learnt more about cyber wellness, such as not to post hurtful comments online and not posting photos of other people without their permission".

"We can only use 10 per cent of copyright materials and we must look out for cyber bullies," said another student.

The concept of the game came about from a survey conducted by the NCPC in 2008.

The survey of over 1,500 students aged 12 to 15 years old found that while youth in Singapore were tech savvy, their awareness of safe and responsible online practices was very low.

Some of the findings included not knowing how to restrict access to their personal information and accepting strangers as friends.

The game is targeted at Primary 5 students because the NCPC feels this is an age where most children start using the Internet often.

NCPC council member Lum Hon Fye said: "The internet is here to stay. Children, whether they like it or not, will have to use the Internet for research, for their school projects, for many things.

"Since this is so important to them, we need to teach children how to navigate the Internet safely. And we need to do so before they get too deep into it".

Cyberonia will be rolled out in all primary schools in Singapore by the end of the year.

It will be made available to each school for a period of two weeks.

A tracking programme in the game also gives schools a report on their students' overall performance.

The top three scoring schools every quarter will be presented the "National Crime Prevention Council Cyber Safety" Award.

NCPC said it hopes to roll the programme out again for next year's Primary 5 batch of students.

-CNA/wk