Achieving Cyber Safety in Junior Secondary Schools in Rivers State, Nigeria

Abstract

The study investigated Achieving Cyber Safety in Junior Secondary Schools in Rivers State. Three Objectives, three research questions and three null hypotheses guided the study. A descriptive survey design was adopted. Population of the study was 815 teachers of public junior secondary schools in Obio-Akpor Local government area of Rivers State. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 182 males out of 374 and 221 females out of 441 representing 50%. Instrument used for data collection was a 17 item questionnaire tagged –Achieving Cyber Safety Questionnaire (ACSQ) with a reliability index of 0.89, was used for data collection. Reliability of the questionnaire was determined using Cronbach Alpha. Research questions were answered using mean and hypotheses tested using z-test. It was found that there is a low awareness of problems associated with cyber usage by students in junior secondary schools among the educators. Also, there is no cyber safety strategies employed for the students. The study concluded that the educational system encourages learners to get involved in the cyber space, but cannot continue to overlook the risks involved and allow children to waste their future in the internet. It was however recommended among others that teachers should be good role models by using digital media in the way that they want the students under their care to use it now and in future and parents should also be involved in checking their children activities online.