#EdTechMonday: Cyberstalking, bullying, and exposure to indecent images have been highlighted as dangers to children’s safety online

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 danger. 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.