Uninor Survey Finds 30 Percent of Indian School Kids Faced Trouble Online

About one-third of school going children surveyed in some states of India have experienced trouble online including cyber-stalking, defamation, hacking and cyber-bullying, as per a study by telecom operator Uninor.

"A survey done by Uninor in schools across seven states in India indicates that 30 percent of Indian children accessing Internet have experienced some kind of cyber-harm. This includes cyber-bullying, cyber-stalking, hacking and defamation," the Uninor report said.

The findings are part of survey that company conducted across 29 schools covering nearly 10,500 children for its WebWise programme.

The study states that 34 percent of children rarely speak to their parents about their online activities. Researching for school and project work, social networking, downloading music and movies rank highest in the list of online activities of children.

Following the findings of the study, Uninor has set target to train 35,000 children under its 'WebWise' programme to build resilience among children against Internet-related risks.

"WebWise is an initiative with an objective to equip children with knowledge and tools to protect themselves online. Uninor has taken the first step towards making the children web-wise," Uninor CEO Morten Karlsen Sorby said in a statement.

Since March, 15,000 children have been covered under this programme. The company has plans to extend it further and cover additional 20,000 children by January next year.

Earlier in 2013, a Telenor Group-Boston Consulting Group study had said that 134 million Indian children would be active on the Internet by 2017, up from 39.5 million in 2012. This study was done in 12 countries and had showed that Indian children face the worst risk combination of high access and low resilience.

"The survey is an eye opener on the vulnerability of our children while they are using the Internet. One learning is to avoid discouraging the child from using phone but to monitor their activity and have rules that keep their use in limits and create awareness on principles of online activity like safe passwords or not to provide personal information to anyone," Uninor corporate responsibility head Pooja Thakran said.

Uninor is planning to take forward the WebWise programme through an active web portal, social initiatives and a child helpline in the next phase starting in 2015, the statement added.