Saudi Arabia to raise digital awareness level, boost child safety online

Abu Dhabi: The Saudi Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and DQ World have signed a memorandum of understanding to use and activate DQ framework, to raise the digital awareness level in Saudi Arabia.

The step falls in line with considering DQ framework as a new world class recognised standard for digital illiteracy, in addition to consolidating the safety for children, in terms of surfing the Internet.

Such a move would contribute in raising and cementing the positivity of technical outputs for the national future generations.

This memorandum comes on the sidelines of the agenda of the C20 Civil Society Communication Group Forum, affiliated with the G20, which dealt with the digital economy.

Through the memorandum, the Ministry seeks to achieve fruitful cooperation in common areas of work, based on the Saudi Vision 2030, in recognition of the importance of development in various areas of communication and information technology, and to achieve technical development and increase digital awareness in various segments of society.

Engineer Faris Al Saqabi, assistant undersecretary for digital capabilities and content, said the memorandum will enhance the concept of digital citizenship in Saudi Arabia, and will contribute directly to developing educational measurement tools and publishing them on a global level using the DQ framework that will raise the level of safety for children in the internet.

The Child Online Safety Index (COSI) measures the level of online safety for children across the world based on six pillars: Cyber Risks, Disciplined Digital Use, Digital Competency, Guidance and Education, Social Infrastructure, and Connectivity. Each of these pillars are formed by 2-8 focused areas, allowing for a comprehensive assessment of online safety for children. A COSI score was calculated for each country ranging from 0 (the worst online safety for children) to 100 (the best online safety for children).