Door Step Digital Skills & Online Safety for Children

How safe are children online? Children are fast becoming active cyber citizens in the online community and we need to ensure they are safe and responsible navigating the digital world. 

Through this Door-Step Digital access and safety Solution, we will provide digital skills and practical online training programs for 800 children from city Primary Schools in Benue State. Here they can learn how to developed an interactive e-learning platform that is accessible and easy-to-learn and connects the children to certified codding instructors using digital peer-to-peer support approach via ICT hardware.

Our solution increases awareness and knowledge on how to be safe online (safeguarding identity and addressing bullying or harassment online). It will also improve how to filter/verify internet contents and experiences which these technologies exposes children to, and also aims to increase the general digital literacy levels by enhancing practical digital skills. This technology uses online practical apps for coding by children.

School children are exposed to the internet from a young age and access to smart devices is becoming easier and more affordable. These have created serious safety concerns for parents, educators, public health officials, and the media over the past decades. This solution is addressing online insecurity by children and youths.

About 70% of the population in Gboko including children and youths are affected by this online insecurity. Data can not be stored safe and or protected online as there is high rate of online crimes in the 21st century.

The Contributing factors here includes:

Incompetent security on personal devices, lack of awareness on effects of cyber crime,wrong use of online tools, etc.

This threats has many consequences affecting the youths, adults and in general the country's economic status at large. This includes; stealing online, destruction of valuable information online,economic down turn, etc.

An annual survey of CyberSource released in 2006 ranked Nigeria as the
world’s riskiest country for online transactions. CyberSource’s 2008
similar survey showed that 76% of the North American merchants rejected
orders from Nigeria and 58% did so for Ghana (Kshetri, 2013). A study
in Nigeria has found that while nine out of 20 teenagers have access to
the internet and thirteen out of fourteen have made friends with
strangers online, there remains a very low level of digital literacy and
awareness on online safety.

This solution serves the general populace with emphasis on youths and children especially. If the youth and children are not corrected/taught on the use of internet today, tomorrow will be a mirage.

This category of citizens are currently under-served in the saying that, there is not means of proper training and enlightenment on the use of online tools to solve human problems. No one cares on what they do online. Many of them do not even have access to online information tools in Nigeria for reasons that they are under age.

This solution will train up youths from child hood on the proper use of online tools and cyber crime combating. This will give them the morale to compete globally in information generation, preservation and sharing.

We have taken steps by engaging youths/school children digital skills training to ascertain their level of understanding on the subject matter, results shows a very poor/negative effect on their personal lives and the society in general. This calls for the need to carefully and very fast to save this generation.

Since 2018, Tivkpaa Modern Tech has been trying to educate the school children on the importance of coding, to which we actively formed part of the team. Again, Children's Basic Fundamental Rights Foundation(CBFRF) is into the research and we volunteered to work from 2020 - 2021.

These all have exposed our team to the current problem and suggested solution here. School children are currently being taught on the proposed solution by our team of ICT experts.

The stage chosen here is as a result of our past experiences in the area. We have engaged school children and youths in the past in Gboko town on digital skills training, STEM awareness creation, all in Gboko and the result is very positive.

This is an opportunity to advance on our work in the area.

A new use of an existing technology such as Google coding week for children. Coding has been in existence with many approaching it in different ways, however, it appears not to meet the need of the time in the 21st century. Ours is to use online apps to instruct children on the proper use of internet and online tools/information thereby improving the information standard in the country and safe-guarding the economic status of Nigeria.

Our project currently serves only 900 youths. However, we plan to serve 2000 by next year.

Impact goals includes:

1. Cyber crime termination

2. Repositioning the children on the cyber space in the 21st century

3. Safe-guard the internet freedom of all citizens(making the internet free for storage of valuable information without harm)

4. To up-skill 2000 youths and help them be safe and responsible while   online

5. Equipping the Nigerian child and young adult to be digitally literate and have digital skills.

The above goals will be achieved by engaging the beneficiaries in serious training on the use digital tools to solve online problems. Training over 200 educators to engage in the campaign

1. Percentage
of population in a given age group achieving at least a fixed level of
proficiency in functional (a) literacy and (b) digital skills, by sex

2.Proportion of youth and adults with information and communications technology (ICT) skills, by type of skill

3. Percentage of youth/adults who have achieved at least a minimum level of proficiency in digital literacy skills

Barriers includes:

1. Lack of online apps with relevant information on the subject

2. ICT infrastructure barrier

3. Lack of funds to sponsors such life changing trainings/projects in Nigeria

4. Legal prohibitions for reason of age by the government of the land

5. Prohibitions on the use of digital tools by children in some communities/cultures.

6. Gender based barriers

Mr. Ayo Andrew A.- CEO, Project Director, National Diploma in Computer Science and  (6 years experiences in Wed design and analyst)

Mr. Nduur David Mluwam - System Engineer, National Diploma in Computer Engineering and  (4 yrs experiences in in system engineer and MIS Admin)

Engr. Atim Terseer Josephat –ICT Instructor, Higher National Diploma in Agric. Engineering and (7 yrs experiences in ICT training)

Mr. Akosu Peter Terkimbi – Computer Analyst, Higher National Diploma in Computer Science and  (9 yrs experiences in computer analyst)

Gender Equality Club Nigeria (GECN)

GECN has experience in training of school children in ICT especially the girl child. They have been into it for the past two years.

Based on our digital skills training for girls in Gboko, which is receiving much patronage and positive impact for the community, we are more than qualified for this.

It will be an added advantage to our already plans to advance the project.