3 in 5 S’pore children interested in improving cyber skills: Study

SINGAPORE — The results of a survey on cyber awareness released today (Jan 18) showed that nearly two out of three children aged eight to 16 years in Singapore were keen to develop their cyber skills, such as IT coding and mobile application development.

Initiated by Intel Security, the study surveyed 501 children aged between eight and 16 in Singapore.

The study found that 58 per cent of the children surveyed were interested in developing their cyber skills, with more than half of them actively doing so.

To develop their skills, 60 per cent turned to schools and online courses for guidance, while 39 per cent worked on their own. When asked about their motivations for developing such skills, 43 per cent of the respondents said that they hoped these skills would aid them in their future careers.

The study also looked into the parents’ opinion on their children’s aspirations to develop cyber skills. Most of the 501 parents (84 per cent) said that such skills were important and helped keep children safe online. Half of the respondents were positive about their children learning to program and write computer code, while 14 per cent were worried that they could use such skills to engage in unlawful activities.

The study was part of a wider global effort to understand adolescent behaviour on the Internet. Researchers surveyed 8,026 children and teenagers and 9,017 parents from ten other countries, including the United States, Canada, India and Japan.