Digital literacy and online child abuse among primary school children in Langata Sub-county, Nairobi City County in Kenya

Wilkins Ndege Muhingi,Johnson Nzau Mavole,Mumo Nzau

doi:10.17583/rimcis.2021.5566

Abstract

Kenya introduced Digischool to public primary schools to prepare children for today’s digital world attracting a cyber-threat landscape. Utilising a descriptive cross-sectional design within a concurrent mixed approach, the study examined the relationship between digital literacy intervention and online child abuse among primary school children in Langata sub-county. Targeted, were children between 9 and 17 years from private and public primary schools, teachers, parents and policy makers and child protection officers. Godden’s formula informed purposive and random sampling of 384 respondents, plus a 10% (423) respondents for Key Informant interviews and focused discussions. Quantitative and qualitative data was analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics and content analysis with the help of SPSS version 22 and Nvivo version 12 respectively. The study revealed stakeholders intervened in online child abuse at various levels using a number of strategies. The study revealed a significant relationship between the type of school and exposure to online. Since the p-value (0.000) was less than alpha (0.05) and we conclude there was a significant relationship between the type of school and exposure to online child abuse. There is need for a systems thinking and concerted multi-sectorial approach to improvement of digital literacy hence protecting children online.

Highlights

Kenya introduced Digischool to public primary schools to prepare children for today s digital world attracting a cyber-threat landscape
Presented was digital literacy that was measured using twenty-five items among the respondents
Online child abuse is today recognised as a global phenomenon since the internet has been found to have a powerful impact on the lives of children throughout the world

Summary

Introduction

Kenya introduced Digischool to public primary schools to prepare children for today s digital world attracting a cyber-threat landscape. Utilising a descriptive crosssectional design within a concurrent mixed approach, the study examined the relationship between digital literacy intervention and online child abuse among primary school children in Langata sub-county. Educación Alfabetización Digital y Abuso Infantil Online entre Alumnado de Primaria en Langata Sub-county, Nairobi County en Kenya. Utilizando un diseño transversal descriptivo dentro de un enfoque mixto concurrente, el estudio examinó la relación entre la intervención de alfabetización digital y el abuso infantil en línea entre los niños de la escuela primaria en el subcondado de Langata. The real origin of the term Digital divide is not known but it was advanced and began to be widely used in the mid-1990s to describe the disparity between households that have access to the Internet and households that do not have access to the Internet (Light, 2001; Pigato, 2001). Access to the Internet is seen as a way to change education in profound ways

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Conclusion