Education at risk: Protecting childhood in a digital age

From Italy's curriculum bans to Sri Lanka's textbook scandal, Governments face a reckoning over child safety in education

- By Bradley Emerson

EDUCATION is not simply about literacy or exams—it is the architecture of a nation's future. The classroom is where values are seeded, identities are shaped, and competencies are built. Every reform, every textbook, every policy is a message about the kind of society a Government intends to leave behind.

That is why Sri Lanka's recent Grade 6 textbook scandal is so alarming. A module intended to teach English contained a live link to buddy.net, an adult dating site. What should have been a harmless exercise in self-description became a digital doorway into predation. This was not a minor editorial slip. It was a breach of trust, a violation of child psychology, and a collapse of institutional safeguarding.

Governments must ask themselves: when they leave office, what do they leave behind? A generation empowered with critical thinking, empathy, and digital safety or a generation scarred by exposure, exploitation, and mistrust in the very institutions meant to protect them?

The psychology of protection

At age 11-12, children are in Erikson's industry vs. inferiority stage, where competence and self-esteem are paramount. Exposure to adult sexual environments undermines confidence, creating confusion and anxiety. UNICEF's Safety by Design principle requires that educational materials anticipate and eliminate risks before they reach children. The buddy.net incident violated every safeguard.

Parents and children rely on trusted institutions schools, teachers, textbooks as secure guides. When those fail, the breach erodes trust and can trigger long-term insecurity. Protecting childhood is not an optional extra; it is the foundation of resilience.

Global policy shifts