Understanding Cyber Crime Awareness Levels Among School Students: A Quasi-Experimental Study in Dehradun

Abstract

Background: Children and teenagers face growing exposure to severe digital risks, including cyberbullying, privacy intrusions, and financial fraud, the latter of which accounted for 69% of all cybercrime instances in India in 2023. Because young people are highly susceptible to online abuse and digital threats, incorporating age-appropriate cybersecurity education is a vital requirement to close the gap in digital safety.

Methods: A quantitative, one-group pre-test/post-test quasi-experimental study was conducted among school students aged 12 to 18 in Dehradun. Using a demographic interview schedule and a self-structured multiple-choice questionnaire, researchers evaluated a sample of 60 students. Participants completed a baseline pre-test, attended a 45-minute interactive audio-visual awareness session on cybercrime prevention, and completed a post-test on the seventh day to measure knowledge retention.

Results: Baseline assessments indicated a severe lack of digital literacy, with 65.0% of respondents exhibiting inadequate awareness, 31.7% showing moderate awareness, and only 3.3% demonstrating adequate awareness. Following the intervention, awareness levels shifted significantly: inadequate awareness dropped to 6.7%, moderate awareness rose to 71.7%, and adequate awareness climbed dramatically to 21.7%. The intervention yielded a highly significant increase in the mean knowledge score, moving from 13.55 in the pre-test to 20.83 in the post-test (p < 0.001). Furthermore, baseline awareness levels showed no statistically significant associations with demographic variables such as age, gender, educational standard, digital exposure, or primary device used.

Conclusion: School students exhibit a severe baseline lack of cybercrime awareness, independent of their demographics or daily digital habits. However, a structured 45-minute audio-visual intervention significantly improved their knowledge, drastically reducing the rate of inadequate awareness from 65% to 6.7%. This demonstrates that formal, school-based cybersecurity education is highly effective and an essential requirement for equipping youth with proactive digital defense mechanisms.