Youth advised to use Internet positively
The Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, has advised the youth to use the Internet and the social media positively to attain optimum benefit.
Advertisement
Opening a week-long summer camp for Heads of Girls Senior High Schools (FOHGSHS) in Ho, the minister acknowledged the importance of information and communications technology (ICT) for development, but said ICT must not be misapplied for frivolous means or just for fun.
The camp, on the theme, “The Cyber Crime”, has attracted 600 students and the headmistresses of the 34 girls’ SHSs in the country.
Participants will be taken through topics such as an overview of the cyber menace, human rights and freedoms, using ICT as a tool to think globally and act locally, psychological, spiritual and social effects of the cyber menace and leadership and the cyber menace.
Speaking on the topic, “Using ICT as a tool to think globally and act locally”, the minister said ICT had no defined boundaries and that it should be used judiciously to solve problems and transform lives.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang advised students to be disciplined and stressed that leadership was about discipline, while discipline was about order, and called on them to use resources made available to them to empower themselves.
Advice to girls
In an address, the Volta Regional Minister, Ms Helen Adjo Ntoso, advised young girls and the youth in general to not compromise their integrity for anything that would destroy their future.
She said they needed to stay focused and concentrate on their studies to achieve their goals and desist from misusing the Internet for cyber crimes and sex-related issues.
Ms Ntoso called for intensive education to enlighten the youth and the public on the disadvantages of the misuse of computers, the Internet and the social media that continued to be flooded with all sorts of negative information and ideas.
She said for society to benefit from technological advancement, there was the urgent need to tackle the cyber menace to ward off its negative impact on the youth and the progress of humanity.
In an address read on his behalf, the Agbogbomefia of the Asogli Traditional Area, Togbe Afede XIV, said although the Internet had benefits, its negative use could impact “on the sacred traditions of society”.
He, therefore, urged the participants to use the knowledge acquired to serve as worthy ambassadors to support the fight against the misuse of the Internet and the social media.
Aims of the camp
The National President of FOHGSHS, Mrs Betty Djokoto, said the camp was part of an initiative to debunk the wrong notion that the woman was only meant for the kitchen and advised the participants to not allow any form of discrimination and gender imbalance to deter them from developing their potential in the vocational and entrepreneurial fields.
The Headmistress of the OLA SHS, Mrs Benedicta Afesi, in her welcome address, said the association had fostered unity among members and also developed the good virtues of students.
The Chairman for the event, Togbe Adzie Lakle Howusu XII, who is the Chief of Ho-Dome and Warlord of Ho-Asogli, expressed concern over the spate of cyber crimes among the youth, saying it had become a major threat to the development of the society.