Kakao's Children's 'Digital Citizenship Education' Engages 90,000 Participants

Photo by Kakao Impact

[Asia Economy Reporter Buaeri] The number of students participating in digital citizenship education for children and adolescents operated by Kakao Impact, Kakao's social contribution foundation, has exceeded 90,000.

According to Kakao on the 5th, the number of students participating in Kakao Impact's digital citizenship education program "A Friendly Digital World" was 90,809. A total of 3,861 classes from 599 schools in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Daejeon, Sejong, Gwangju, and Jeju participated.

"A Friendly Digital World" is a program that educates elementary school students on digital citizenship awareness from an early age, including understanding personal information protection, concepts of cyberbullying, and coping methods. Kakao has been conducting the program together with the Pureunamu Foundation since 2015. The cumulative sponsorship amount has reached 1.95 billion KRW.

The education covers topics such as cyberbullying prevention, digital etiquette, digital literacy (discernment), copyright, and online identity.

Students learn how to express emotions offline and online, techniques to cope when experiencing cyberbullying, and the etiquette to maintain in the digital world.

Additionally, they receive education on how to protect themselves from various online risks such as smishing, internet scams, and hacking, as well as the ability to discern the vast information obtained from social networks (SNS).

The program has also received positive feedback in educational settings. Park, a teacher at Songjeong Jungang Elementary School in Gwangju, said, "Due to COVID-19, the time students were exposed to online media suddenly increased, but there was no professional program, so we were at a loss," adding, "The class content and learning kits are well made, so they likely approached the students in a friendly manner."

Kakao Impact plans to continue conducting school education for elementary schools in Seoul, Gyeonggi, Incheon, Daejeon, Sejong, Gwangju, and Jeju this year as well.

A Kakao Impact official stated, "'A Friendly Digital World' is a program designed to help children develop proper digital citizenship awareness and create a safe digital environment," adding, "We will expand the target audience and enhance the program so that more children can participate in the education in the future."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.