KOTA KINABALU: DiGi Telecommunications Sdn Bhd (DiGi), together with its CyberSAFE in Schools programme partners, recently shared the results of the largest nationwide survey on internet safety and digital resilience of Malaysian schoolchildren.
The announcement was made at the launch of the National Survey 2014: CyberSAFE in Schools report, themed Safety Net: Capacity Building Among Malaysian Schoolchildren on Staying Safe Online.
Being a flagship programme of DiGi’s corporate responsibility to empower societies, the CyberSAFE in Schools programme conducts workshops throughout the nation including Sabah, to raise awareness on online safety and engage with schoolchildren as well as teachers to foster a safer Internet for All Malaysians.
According to DiGi’s Associate Principal Communications and Corporate Responsibility, Philip Ling, the telecommunication’s Online Safety Survey Report reveals the need to strengthen digital resilience among schoolchildren.
Speaking at a briefing with the media yesterday, Ling disclosed that more than 2,000 students in Sabah participated in the national online safety survey which uses inferential statistics to unearth deeper insights, and provide national level recommendations.
“The 2014 CyberSAFE in Schools survey gathered responses of approximately 14,000 schoolchildren nationwide, who participated in the CyberSAFE in Schools workshops over a period of nine months.
And, 2,081 out of the 14,000 schoolchildren from over 50 schools across Sabah and Labuan participated in the survey which examined several dimensions of internet-related behaviour: online safety, cyber-bullying, support networks and personal concerns, was tabulated and processed by Taylor Nelson Sofres Malaysia Sdn Bhd and analysed by education research experts, Professor Kuldip Kaur and Professor Karuthan Chinna. Respondents were required to answer a list of questions, before and after the workshop.
Ling, who is also DiGi’s CyberSAFE in Schools programme manager, said that the survey revealed that most schoolchildren are not taking sufficient actions to protect themselves while using the internet.
The survey also revealed that 45 per cent of schoolchildren admitted to taking fewer actions (less than three) to protect themselves online while only under 17 per cent of those surveyed said they have taken a wider range of protective measures while on the internet.
“We also discovered that 22 percent of the schoolchildren in Sabah, who participated in the survey, have been bullied online at least once with another 20 per cent being uncertain if they were bullied. This percentage is considered high and almost at par with the national average of 26 per cent,” he said.
With a student population of over 500,000 in Sabah and the rapid growth of internet access in the state, it is important to strengthen our children’s digital resiliency towards online risk and to adopt safer online practices, he added.
According to Ling, findings from the survey have also identified several approaches to improve capacity building in digital citizenship and ensuring a positive online experience for the children for consideration.
These include increasing public access to education on internet safety to help build digital resilience, growing strong public and private support systems to assist children who have encountered negative experiences online, and capacity building for adults through strategic mediation and intervention by parents and teachers to resolve problematic online situations.
“The results that we have gathered from this study were very useful as it will help us to tailor relevant and effective preventive strategies to educate younger children with the right knowledge and skills on good judgement and positive cyber conduct. Besides empowering these children to be safe online, the report also highlighted the need to educate family members to provide the right support for their children,” said Ling.
On the issue of cyber bullying, he said that they discovered many children do not report this because most of them are afraid that their parents will take away their handphones.
“In the survey, when asked what is the definition of cyber bullying, a lot of the children said they do not know. Some may have been bullied but they do not know and in some cases their definition of cyber bullying is wrong.
“We are teaching children that online bullies can be caught as they leave an ‘online’ trail with things like the IP address and history. So they do not have to worry about reporting any incidents of cyber bullying,” he stressed.
The CyberSAFE in Schools programme is a smart public-private partnership initiated by the Ministry of Education Malaysia, DiGi, CyberSecurity Malaysia and Childline Malaysia and is closely aligned to the national “Klik Dengan Bijak (Click Wisely)” initiative by the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission to create awareness and empower students and teachers with knowledge and skills to strengthen their digital resilience, and at the same time engage teachers and parents to take proactive steps to help children learn about safe online practices and positive digital citizenship.
For more information or to download the report, please visit http://www.safeinternet.my/.