The September edition of #EdTechMonday highlighted some
of the dangers associated with child online safety, especially for young
learners. The #EdTechMonday moderated
by Nathan Quao on Citi FM, Mr. Mensah who was joined by Shiela Sonekan, IT
Manager, Ghana International School, and Awo Aidam Amenyah, Executive Director
Child Online Africa outlined some of these dangers including cyberstalking,
misinformation and disinformation.
“There are some
issues in relation to someone trying to groom children in what ordinarily their
parents will not allow them to do. That is one key thing,” Eric said.
“Another thing that
we have seen in the industry at the E-crime bureau is that there is that issue
of cyberstalking and cyberbullying. We also have exposure to indecent images
being some of the dangers. Online predators are also there.
“There is also this
critical thing, misinformation, and disinformation, that is a danger to the
young ones,” he added.
Mr. Mensah revealed the challenging task at hand for
protecting learners online, referring to a UNICEF report that shows seven out
of 10 young people use the internet for learning. This means in case of any
danger, a wider range of about 70% of young learners are at risk. The survey
goes on to reveal that 4 out of 10 people have contacted people they have never
met before with an additional 2 out of 10 going on to meet people they first
contacted online.
With these statistics in mind, Awo Aidam Amenyah talked
about the need for everyone to be responsible for protecting children online,
adding the need for teachers to be careful about using online tools for
learning.
“Everybody is
responsible,” Awo said. “In the
classroom, the first responsibility stops at the desk of the teacher who is
calling the learners in because the fact that you have sent them a link or an
invitation to join a discussion online, you need to put all the necessary
measures in place to ensure that they are safe.”
Shiela Sonekan added that some of the unique dangers for
young learners online are identity theft, and sextortion - where people ask the
young ones to have sex with them otherwise they leak things they know about
them online.
On the issue of inappropriate content, which Eric talked about, Shiela said:
“The children are
there online and so many things are popping up for them to see. And it’s so
inappropriate that we need to be careful what these children are doing online.
Cyber predators are following them and they want to groom them for other
things.”
However, there are institutions, laws, and tools for
parents and schools to help minimize the risks for children. UNICEF and the
National Cyber Security Centre are part of the institutions protecting children
online and guiding them on safe practices whilst online. them on what to do and
what not to do.
Eric explained some of the measures in the Cyber Security
Act 2020. “There are about five articles
in there that look at the protection of children online,” the Lead
Financial Crime and Anti-Money Laundering (E-crime Bureau) said.
“Here we have the
indecent image, photograph of the child specifically. We also have 'dealing
with a child for purposes of sexual abuse'. There are issues even about
cyberstalking of a child and ‘sextortion’ that were earlier mentioned.
“So, all these
things have been enshrined in the law now and there are also punitive measures
that have been instituted when someone flouts these kinds of policies,”
Eric said.
EdTech Monday is an initiative of the Mastercard
Foundation’s Regional Centre for Innovative Teaching and Learning in ICT and
part of the Foundation’s strategy to find solutions to Africa’s youth
employment challenge by closing the gap in access to quality education, and
advancing the integration of technology in education policies and practices
across Africa. To realize this vision in Ghana, the Mastercard Foundation has
partnered with MEST Africa, a pan-African technology institution to bring the
EdTech Monday show on the last Monday of every month.
Watch the full discussion HERE.
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