Yogyakarta, October 14, 2026 — Creating a safe and child-friendly school environment is not solely the responsibility of teachers and parents. Children and young people also play an important role in fostering a culture of respect, empathy, and mutual protection, including in their interactions in the digital world.
To support this effort, Yayasan Rumah Impian Indonesia (Dreamhouse Foundation) organized a school peer-leader empowerment activity entitled “Cyberbullying: Let’s Protect Our Digital Space” at SMK BOPKRI 1 Yogyakarta, Indonesia. The activity was attended by 15 student school leaders who were encouraged to understand cyberbullying, recognize its impact, and learn how to respond appropriately when they witness or experience online harassment.
Understanding Cyberbullying and Its Impact on Children
Social media has become an integral part of everyday life for children and adolescents. Digital platforms allow them to communicate, learn, build friendships, and express themselves. However, online interactions also carry risks, including cyberbullying.
Cyberbullying can take many forms, such as hurtful comments, insults, sharing private content without permission, and deliberately excluding someone from online social groups. These actions are more than just inappropriate online communication. When left unaddressed, cyberbullying can undermine a child’s sense of safety, self-confidence, social relationships, and psychological well-being.
Through this activity, student leaders were introduced to the meaning and consequences of cyberbullying, its various forms, and practical ways to prevent it and respond appropriately. They were also encouraged to develop empathy and show greater concern for peers who experience bullying.
One important message was the need to think before posting or commenting on social media. Every digital interaction has consequences, and what one person considers a joke may cause real emotional harm to another.
Connecting Child Protection with Safe Digital Behavior
This school leadership initiative is closely connected to every child’s fundamental right to protection from violence. Every child deserves to grow and develop in a safe environment, whether at home, at school, in the community, or while using digital technology.
Article 19 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child emphasizes the importance of protecting children from all forms of violence, including physical and mental violence. This principle reminds us that children’s safety and dignity must be respected in every environment in which they live, learn, and interact.
In the context of cyberbullying, child protection requires more than simply prohibiting harmful behavior. Children also need knowledge, support, and practical skills to recognize abuse, seek help, and contribute to safer environments.
By equipping student school leaders with this understanding, Dreamhouse Foundation encourages children not only to recognize their own rights but also to respect the rights of their peers. When a student refuses to share humiliating content, seeks help after witnessing online bullying, or supports a classmate who is being targeted, that student becomes part of the broader effort to protect children.
Building Empathy and a Culture of Mutual Care
The “Cyberbullying: Let’s Protect Our Digital Space” activity was designed to encourage active participation through an introductory presentation, discussion, and interaction among participants. These learning opportunities allowed students to reflect on their own social media behavior and consider how their actions may affect others.
In addition to discussing cyberbullying, participants were introduced to the concept of impression management, developed by sociologist Erving Goffman. This concept helps explain how people present and manage their identities in the eyes of others, including through social media.
This topic is particularly relevant for adolescents who are developing their identities and social relationships. The desire to fit in, gain attention, or appear popular online can sometimes lead young people to participate in behavior that harms others.
Participants were therefore encouraged to become more mindful of how they present themselves in digital spaces. Respecting others, protecting privacy, choosing words carefully, and refusing to spread humiliating content are all part of responsible social media use.
Student leaders are also expected to help promote a culture of mutual care among their peers. This does not mean that they must handle bullying cases alone or take over the responsibilities of teachers and school authorities. Instead, they can raise awareness among fellow students, offer initial support to those affected, and encourage reporting to trusted adults when a situation requires further intervention.
Children Are Not Only Recipients of Protection but Also Part of the Solution
Dreamhouse Foundation believes that child protection efforts become stronger when children are meaningfully involved in the process. Children are not merely individuals who need protection; they also have voices, the capacity to learn, and the potential to bring positive change to their communities.
The participation of 15 student school leaders in this activity represents one step toward building that awareness. Through the knowledge and skills gained, they are expected to become more alert to signs of bullying, demonstrate empathy, and understand what to do when they witness or experience violence.
Positive cultural change does not always begin with large-scale programs. Sometimes, it starts with simple decisions: refusing to laugh at a classmate who is being insulted, not forwarding photos or messages intended to humiliate someone, speaking up when behavior becomes harmful, and accompanying a friend who needs support.
When these small actions become shared habits, schools can develop into safer and more supportive environments where every child feels respected and included.
Working Together to Create Safer Digital Spaces for Children
Through this school leadership empowerment initiative, Dreamhouse Foundation continues to promote the prevention of violence against children, including violence that occurs through digital interactions. Achieving this goal requires collaboration among children, teachers, parents, schools, civil society organizations, and other stakeholders committed to child protection.
A safe digital space does not mean a space without disagreement. It means an environment where people can interact without humiliation, intimidation, or behavior that undermines another person’s dignity.
Through the message “Let’s Protect Our Digital Space,” student school leaders are encouraged to become part of the solution by using social media responsibly, practicing empathy, and refusing to normalize bullying.
Protecting children means ensuring that every child can learn, build friendships, express themselves, and grow with a sense of safety—in both the physical and digital worlds