By: C. M. Paul
Kolkata, Jan 30, 2017 : A media group in Kolkata organized a day-long seminar on Media and Family Values with parents, teachers, students and media practitioners.
Over 60 people participated in the event organized by Signis Bengal – a unit of Signis India – member of World Catholic Association for Communication held at Archbishop’s House Calcutta, Saturday 28 January.
The participants including both faculty and students hailed from five colleges (Loreto, Vivekanada, Salesian College Sonada, iLead and Kalyani) and several schools in Kolkata and neighbouring districts of South 24 Parganas, Nadia and far away Darjeeling, as well as NGOs and church laity groups.
“Social media today poses a serious challenge to our ways of parenting, parent-child relationship impacting the traditional family values that holds our society together,” said Signis India president Mr Sunil Lucas father of three children presenting the seminar topic.
Signis Bengal president Salesian Fr Robin Gomes insisted that “youth, teenagers, parents and teachers need to update themselves with the critical knowledge required to secure their lives for a better relationship as well as risk free use of social media.”
Secretary of Signis media group Mr Dilip Rozario listed some of the topics discussed by eminent resource persons to be “world of media: print, electronic and social media; current and future trends of social media; parenting in the digital world; risks and dangers associated with the on-line media; and knowledge of cyber-crimes and measures to protect children and family.”
Mr Rozario said, “seminar is a nation-wide initiative taken up by Signis Bengal which is one of 12 regional units of Signis India – the Indian chapter of Signis World recognized by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India.”
Some of the participants especially parents and students suggested that seminar organizers “conduct such enlightening and informative seminar in schools and colleges where both students and their guardians could take part.”
