Educating digital citizens through curricular incorporation : a South African solution to information poverty

Abstract

With the increased focus on e-education and closing the digital divide through accessto ICT’sin South Africa, foundation and secondary school curricula are increasingly becoming the location for ICT integration. There is however no overt focus on introducing digital wellness and digital citizenship education information into the curriculum, leaving students vulnerable in terms of information seeking, use, and production even with infrastructure access being available. This treats the problem of the digital divide in South Africa as a purely access-based issue, ignoring the influence of information poverty and digital citizenship on the digital divide. Through examining the existing curriculum this article attemptsto suggest a possible integration of these topics within the existing curricularstructure.