Forty-nine percent of school children in Bangladesh are victims of harassment via the internet, a Telenor survey has revealed.
The mobile-phone service provider made its study – Safe Internet – public on Tuesday.
The study “examined internet safety knowledge among 1,896 students in Bangladesh”, aged between 12 and 18 years, from the country’s key cities, a Telenor press release said.
The findings show that 49 percent of school students in Bangladesh have either been “bullied or disturbed online” or have been “bullied by the same person both online and offline” or have themselves bullied others under the veil of internet anonymity.
The release says the study analyzed student response to different types of internet harassment such as “cyberbullying and peer pressure”.
The study was aimed at identifying factors behind “behaviour patterns” and finding ways to make the web safer.
The study says students’ easy access to the internet had become a matter of concern for parents.
Children, the study finds, are now more exposed to peer pressure, making them visit sites not suited to them or use bad language.
The study found 49 percent of students surveyed had experienced at least one form of peer pressure, the release said.
When asked about their ability to counter such threats, 60 percent of the students said they were confident of doing so either alone or with the help of their parents and teachers.
While the internet makes access to websites promoting drugs, weapons, suicide and hate rather easy, posing a broader threat, most students said they avoided such sites.
The study also revealed that 61 percent of the students in Bangladesh stated they would not send explicit messages, also known as ‘sexting’, the press release said.
“Telenor hopes the findings from this country-specific study will emphasize the importance of positive parent and teacher guidance for children using the internet, as well as to inspire increased digital resilience through regular conversations and advice to their children,” Ola Jo Tandre, Head of Social Responsibility, Telenor Group, has been quoted as saying in the press release.
Source: Bd news24
