VietNamNet Bridge - In Vietnam, most students under 12 use social media. However, they are not well prepared to face risks, a report from Vietnet-ICT, an NGO, has found.

Most students under 12 use social media

Ngo Minh Trang from Vietnet-ICT said students were asked to name the risks they may face when using social names. They ticked off a few items out of many items suggested. 

“The students think that when using social networks regularly, they may catch eye disease, become the victims of child trafficking, or suffer from game addiction,” Trang said.

“Their answer showed that they are still unaware of all the risks,” she added.

Vietnet-ICT conducted a survey on internet safety education in school on 420 students in 12 cities and provinces, and found that 67 percent of students begin using internet when they are 3-12 years old, and that 75 percent have been using social networks.

The figures show the urgency in educating children how to use internet in a safe and civilized way from the very early age. 

However, education about safe internet use in school still has not been implemented in curricular programs. As a result, schools cannot employ teachers and add lessons about safe internet use to the curriculum.

In fact, some schools have begun education on this issue. However, most of them can only organize specific classes and give very basic information.

The surveyors have recommended schools enhance school activities and set weekly/monthly/quarterly teaching schedules to help students understand the lessons and apply knowledge in practice. 

The activities are especially important in large cities where students are facing high risks of social network addiction, video games, personal information exposure, phishing and eye disease.

Other sociological surveys carried out by many organizations also found that Vietnamese students use the internet and social networks regularly.

The Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), which surveyed 2,000 students in Hanoi, HCMC, Thai Nguyen province and Hai Phong, found that 92 percent of university students and 84 percent of secondary and high school students use Facebook regularly.

Twenty six percent of students use social media less than one hour a day, 40 percent 1-3 hours and 34 percent more than three hours. Around 45 percent of students said they would access the internet any time if they have mobile devices.

At least 92 percent of students said they want to make friends and chat, 82 percent update information about their friends and society, and 81 percent find something useful for their work and study, while 32 percent want to find jobs.

RELATED NEWS

Minister wants to develop made-in-Vietnam social media

Vietnam social media users face crime and fraud

Ha Anh