By Precious D. Freeman
The Girls Alliance for Future Leadership (GAFL) wants the government of Liberia to ensure that all internet providers in the country provide proper education on the use of their internet platforms for students, especially girls from K-1 to 12th grade, observing that there is no protection for students using their respective platforms.
The keynote speaker for the celebration of the Day of the African Child, Jamesetta Flomo observed that the internet has its good, bad and ugly sides, even though there is very little evidence that the social media directly has meaningful negative impact on the youthful users, if used properly, it could help to build the skills of its youthful users thereby leading them to making decisions for their own betterment.
“The challenges of the wrong use of social media render significant consequences to the user,” she observed.
“The recent reality of the wrong use of social media is the situation of Finda Bangura who was seen by thousands of Liberians of all demographics having a romantic relationship with another female, we are aware of the unlimited exploitive nudity and sexually explosive materials on the internet, but Finda Bangura’s situation was close to home,” she stated.
She added that it is now 63 years since the World Wide Web (WWW), the precursor of the internet, got established, but today the world is a wholesome functioning unit.
The keynote speaker maintained that for a country like Liberia, that is just mere end user of technologies with internet companies not having any age or parental consideration to internet sales, the youths of Liberia are facing a catastrophic unimpeded enemy.
“We are calling on parenting derive initiative that will restrictive actions that have the potential to place culpability on teenagers, ignoring the societal forces that are playing a major role in the internet chaos,” she said.
Miss Flomo stressed that government in most countries across the globe with Liberian being no exception, only react to the wrong use of the internet in the face of danger to their power base.
“We are calling on the government of Liberia through the Ministry of Education to ensure GSM companies in the country to fund internet education for all Liberian teenagers especially female students,” she said.
The GAFL event was a resounding success, as it brought together girls and women from different schools to celebrate the Day of the African Child and promote child rights and education.
The student populated event discussed the importance of education, gender equality, and the rights of the African child, under the theme: ‘Creating a Friendly Digital Environment for Girls’.
Jamesetta Flomo said that the world is now digitalized, and the internet is a global computer network providing a variety of information and communication facilities, consisting of interconnected networks using standardized communication protocols.
She stressed the need for more opportunities to be created for girls in order for them to participate in decision-making processes.
Miss Flomo stressed the importance of girls’ education, saying, “When you educate a girl, you educate a whole nation”.
She maintained, “We have come a long way in advancing the child rights in Africa, but there is still a lot to be done. Every child, regardless of their gender, deserves to be protected and empowered”.
“It is my hoped that this event will inspire more people to speak up for the rights of African children and work towards creating a better future for them,” she said.
She then thanked the participants and stakeholders for their support and urged them to continue working towards the empowerment of girls and women in Africa.
Speaking on behalf of the participating students, Jenny Payne thanked GAFL for organizing the program which she said was timely and urged her colleagues to continue on the path of education.
The principal of the AME Zion Kpadeh applauded GAFL for organizing such occasion which he said was the best way to commemorate day of such importance.
The International Day of the African Child is one of the major international days that is significant which is celebrated on June 16, each year.
This annual event came into existence in 1991 when the organization of African Unity now the African Union set aside the day to remember the 1976 massacre of over one hundred schools kids in the township of Soweto in apartheid South Africa.
Since then the day has been used over the world to denounce injustice against children, Liberia has had its own share of injustice against children especially the girl child.
