Irish children will now learn how to use social networking sites such as Bebo safely, as part of the the Social Personal Health Education (SPHE) curriculum taught in the first three years of secondary school.

Minister for Education and Science Mary Hanafin launched a classroom resource pack for teachers that assists them in teaching children how to stay safe online.

It is being backed up with a series of seminars for parents, in-service training for SPHE teachers, and voluntary workshops for both primary and secondary teachers that show them the basics of social networking.

The workshops are designed to familiarise teachers with the use of Bebo, the most popular networking service in Ireland, with over one billion users, according to Simon Grehan, project officer with the National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE), who co-developed the new programme.

Teachers learn how to create their own Bebo profile, add friends and carry out other common tasks. Mr Grehan says that Bebo assists NCTE by providing large number of user accounts. "They are really trying to push an educational dimension to the site," he says.

He says that while use of Bebo is centrally blocked in schools who connect to the state-controlled schools broadband network, safe use of the site is a "life skill" that children need to learn.

This week's launch comes in advance of the two-week initiative to make IT secure. Starting next Monday, a consortium of public and private sector organisations will arrange nationwide events to raise awareness of IT security among the general population.

Next Tuesday is also Safer Internet Day, which will be marked in 50 countries around the world including Ireland.