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4 December 2013, SOS Children brings Wikipedia into the classroom

A child-friendly version of Wikipedia, specially designed for use in the classroom, has been launched by children's charity SOS Children('s Villages) UK. Wikipedia for Schools is a selection of articles from the Wikipedia website organised around core school subjects.

The internet is a fantastic educational resource, but many parents and teachers are concerned about the numerous hazards young people face when browsing the web. Even Wikipedia can present difficulties at times. Because content is written and edited by users, articles are vulnerable to vandalism. And its encyclopaedic nature means that many articles are on subjects which some parents would consider unsuitable for their children. Occasionally, information is inaccurate, and the sheer volume of content makes it easy to get distracted.

SOS Children wanted to overcome this problem. As a global charity providing quality education to over 130,000 children worldwide, SOS Children wanted to turn Wikipedia into a safe environment for school-age children. Articles are checked by staff and volunteers to ensure material is suitable for children and relevant for the classroom. Any inappropriate material, from gratuitous bad language to unnecessary sexual content, is removed, while content key to children’s learning is left untouched.

Safe learning for every child

Wikipedia for Schools is targeted at secondary-level students. However, the breadth of content - 6,000 articles, 50,000 images and 26 million words - makes it useful to children of all ages. It also contains a range of carefully-selected articles chosen to reflect the interests of children more broadly. Better still, teachers and parents can download it if they wish children to learn away from the dangers of the net.

“Wikipedia for Schools brings safe learning within the reach of every child,” says Alistair Barry, acting CEO of SOS Children UK. “It is easy for students to navigate because articles are arranged by school subject, and teachers and parents can rest assured that children are protected from the kind of unsuitable content they might find elsewhere on the web.”

SOS Children began work on Wikipedia for Schools in 2005, and the new version is the fourth edition of the project. It was originally intended as an offline learning resource for children in developing countries. The project has been immensely successful in countries such as India, Kenya and South Africa, but is also used in schools in the UK, Australia and the US.

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12 November 2013, SOS Children are appealing for funds to help with emergency relief efforts in the Philippines following super typhoon Haiyan.

One of the strongest typhoons ever to make landfall has devastated the central Philippines, killing up to 10,000 people and leaving millions, including many children, struggling to survive without food, shelter or clean drinking water. 

Among the hardest hit areas was coastal Tacloban in central Leyte province. The storm passed directly over Tacloban City, with wind gusts up to 235 miles per hour, directly impacting the SOS Children’s Village in the city, where more than 150 children and young people live.

Whilst all children and staff at the project are safe, the SOS Children’s Village Director Mr.Oscar Garol described a scene of utter destruction: “The Village buildings were badly damaged. Children managed to escape to safety with their SOS mothers by climbing onto the rooftops. The surroundings were ravaged, with mud all over the place and I could see many scattered dead bodies.”

There are currently eight Children’s Villages in the Philippines and others in the affected region (Calbayog, Cebu and Iloilo) emerged from the storm unscathed.

Despite Tacloban remaining largely inaccessible, SOS Children has launched an emergency appeal and will focus on getting food, safe water and hygiene supplies to children and families as quickly as possible.

Meryl Davies, SOS Children UK Fundraising says: “Children are our first priority. Many will have lost their parents or been separated from their families. With nearly half a century of local expertise to draw on, we have been able to respond immediately: providing shelter, food and essential support to children and families who have suffered the most.”

On average, 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, with two or three causing widespread devastation. Haiyan is the 25th storm to enter the Philippines this year and is the most powerful to strike land since records began.