‘Protect girls from emerging excesses of social media’
The Gomoa East District Director of the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE), Mrs Constance Akuamoah Boateng, has advised parents to properly protect their young female children, in particular, from the emerging excesses of the social media.
According to her, failure on the part of parents to do so will have a devastating effect on the children and affect their growth and development.
She said though the social media gave an opportunity to people to make friends with others and continuously interact with them, its excessive use could lure some young girls into sexual abuse.
Mrs Akuamoah Boateng gave the address when she addressed schoolchildren, parents, teachers and opinion leaders from three communities on the effects of social media on the girl child.
The programme was a collaboration between the NCCE and Plan International, a child’s right non-governmental organisation (NGO). The beneficiary Plan-adopted communities are Ayensuadze, Abonyi and Abaasa.
Use of mobile phone
She urged parents not to allow their young daughters to have access to mobile phones and the internet since it would make them susceptible to abuse by some unscrupulous individuals, noting that the exposure of young girls to modern technology, which included the social media, could make them vulnerable to some men who could take advantage of their naivety.
The NCCE director stressed that there had been instances where some young girls had been into contact with men through facebook and later abused sexually. She added that “parents must always be alert to protect their female children from such people’’.
She noted that the use of social media had become the order of the day and, therefore, cautioned parents against allowing their children to use such medium to make friends.
Watching pornography
She cautioned the children against watching pornography on the internet since such an act would affect their personal development and their education.
She further warned young ladies against chasing after job opportunities from abroad on the social media, since such information often turned out not to be true.
The Gomoa East District Civic Education Officer, Mr Kojo Hooper, called on the elders of the towns not to settle cases of child abuse at home since such a move would defeat efforts aimed to protect the rights of children.
He said cases of sexual abuse were on the increase in the district and, therefore, called on parents to provide the basic needs of their children to protect them from abuse.