By Edward Williams, GNA
Hohoe (V/R), Sept. 02, GNA – Mrs Marian Jemima Akua Adzroe, Acting Volta Regional Director of Education, says the Directorate and all District Directorates are committed to creating the environment to enhance the academic and personal development of the youth.
She said that would protect the youth from the dangers of cyber exploitation and substance dependence.
Mrs Adzroe during a Cybersecurity and Substance Abuse Awareness Programme at the Hohoe E.P Senior High School in Hohoe, urged stakeholders in the sector to commit to building a community where the youth used technology to empower themselves while safeguarding their identity, privacy and well-being.
She said the programme would enable the students to navigate the digital landscape and protect them from hazards, both online and offline, to strengthen their potential.
Mrs Adzroe noted that every time a student logged onto a platform, created a profile or posted a message, they left behind a digital footprint, and must do all to protect their personal data and urged the students to recognise that what went online stayed there forever and capable of directly influencing future educational and career opportunities.
Mrs Adzroe admonished teachers to integrate digital literacy and substance abuse awareness into daily guidance and counselling efforts and create safe space to make students feel supported.
She called on parents to actively engage their children on online activities and build open lines of communication so their wards could bring their challenges to them rather than seeking unsafe solutions elsewhere.
Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Cuthbert Aapengnuo, Deputy Volta North Regional Police Commander, said cyberbullying was the use of digital platforms to harass, threaten, embarrass, humiliate or target another person.
Reverend Assistant Superintendent of Narcotics (ASN) John Gilbert Atioto, an Officer of the Volta Regional Command of Narcotics Control Commission (NACOC), noted that Senior High Schools sat in the centre of drug and substance abuse nationwide.
He said students engaged in drugs due to pressures, curiosity, identity formation, easy availability, limited risk perception, long term stakes and weak parental styles.
Mr Franklin Amesimeku, Headmaster of the School said the programme organised by the School’s Guidance and Counselling Unit, organised the programme for students to be conscientized on the dangers of abuse of drugs.
He said the expectation was for the students to understand why it was not helpful for them to be using drugs and to ensure that from now on those who probably might have already been in such situations would do away with the substances.
Ms Musah Haruna Firdaus, a student told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) that the programme gave her a great insight into the cyberspace and how she would conduct herself.
She called for such programmes in other educational institutions to inform and educate future leaders in the era of technological advancement.
GNA
Edited by Maxwell Awumah/george-Ramsey Benamba
Reporter: Edward WilliamsÂ
[email protected]Â Â