Children appeal for Internet safety, protection
School children in the Eastern Region have made an appeal to stakeholders in the area of Information Communication Technology (ICT) to ensure the safe and responsible use of the internet space, to guarantee the safety and protection of children from any harm.
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The children said since ICT had become an examinable subject in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), there was the need for stakeholders to guarantee their safety.
A statement presented by pupils of the Ascension Presbyterian Basic School, on behalf of all children in the Eastern Region, said: “We the children in the Eastern Region are Internet users just like all children and adults and by the UN Convention on the Rights of children, we are enjoined to participate in matters that concern us”.
According to the children, they are part of the many people worldwide who use the Internet either for games or educational activities and, therefore, deemed it fit to add their voices to the many calls to make the Internet safe and harmless for children.
Safer Internet Day
The children presented the statement to the Eastern Regional Coordinating Director, Mr Kozie Sambo, to mark the Safer Internet Day 2017. The day is an annual campaign set aside to raise issues on safe and responsible use of the Internet space.
This year, the Ghana Education Service, in collaboration with the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, organised a route march through some principal streets of Koforidua and later converged on the forecourt of the Regional Coordinating Council.
They carried placards with inscriptions ‘if you suspect deceit, hit delete’, ‘Internet is educative, use it wisely’, ‘don’t neglect, protect before you connect’, and ‘think before you share’.
Mr Sambo advised the children to use the Internet to advance the cause of their education and to do the right thing by not engaging in the vices on the Internet because they were part of the stakeholders to ensure decent use of the Internet.
