Ghana: GISF to Launch CyberSafe Programme

The Ghana Internet Safety Foundation (GISF) has received funding to launch a CyberSafe Programme for some selected schools in Ghana.

With support from Microsoft Volunteers, the CyberSafe is to promote the safety of children in Ridge School, Headlines Educational Complex, Bernstel School, and Atwima Kwanwoma Cluster of Schools.

According to the Executive Director of GISF, Emmanuel Adinkrah, the CyberSafe initiative is designed to create awareness about cyberbullying and how to stop it.

‘The Covid-19 pandemic has led to a massive paradigm shift from face-to-face to online meetings and activities’, the Ghanaian Times quoted Adinkrah as saying.

According to Ghana’s 2010 census, ten percent of young people between the ages of 12 and 19 had access to the internet through mobile phones.

The increased access to the internet for children and young adults has also increased the possibilities of exposure to abuse, violence, and online exploitation.

Researchers, in a 2018 report, estimated that at least 69.3 percent of junior high school students and 92 percent of senior high school students had experienced cyberbullying at least once.

Given young people’s increased use of the internet, Adinkrah believes they are now more vulnerable and exposed to the negative impacts of the internet.

‘From all indications, children obviously turn out to be the most vulnerable consumers of some negative influences such as cyberbullying, use of abusive and vulgar language, uncontrolled viewing of adult materials and contents to mention but a few’, he said.

GISF, it is understood, is an international platform for young and old people to safely explore and develop their internet technology potentials.

Source: Ghanaian Times

Photo source: UNICEF

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