Negative posts on social media can hurt your future - Cyber Security boss cautions students
Students and the youth have been advised against posting negative items on social media as such posts might not only embarrass them later on in life, but they could also hurt their future and opportunities.
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This is because those negative items become digital traces stored on the Internet and are always there for reference. The Director-General of the Cyber Security Authority, Dr Albert Antwi-Boasiako, gave the advice when he delivered the keynote address at a Speech and Prize Giving Day held to climax the 64th anniversary celebration of Oda Senior High School (ODASCO).
Speaking on the theme for the celebration: ‘Opportunities and risk of ICT: The role of education stakeholders in creating and shaping positive digital experiences for students,’ Dr Antwi Boasiako said often students and young people, eager to also have a sense of belonging on social media, posted items, sometimes including nudes and other bad behaviours online, not knowing their implications.
He, therefore, enjoined parents, guardians and caregivers to play a pivotal role in supporting their wards’ use of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) at home as well as stressed the need for leadership of educational institutions to be vigilant in monitoring both students and teachers to prevent such incidents.
Technology age
Dr Antwi-Boasiako, who is an old student of ODASCO and a member of the 1997 Year Group, stated that fostering a positive attitude towards technology could be transformed into a powerful tool for learning and growth.
He said with the world now in the technology age, it was imperative for everyone and especially the youth not to be left out as information and communications technology (ICT) has become part of everything one does.
He thus encouraged the students to use it positively to acquire good knowledge and also to enhance their academic work, pledging to establish a multipurpose ICT laboratory for the school, to be delivered through Education For Development Foundation, an NGO set up in 2021 to support education and ICT innovation.
Event
Chaired by Rashiadatu Yasmine Abdulai of 3 Media Network, the event coordinated by the 1999 Year group to mark their 25th anniversary, attracted a number of dignitaries and old students led by their national president, Baffour Yaw Anane Asare; the Deputy Eastern Regional Director of Education, Benjamin Nai and students.
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Deserving teachers and students were awarded, while the Oda SHS Old Students Association (Nananom) also honoured Dr Antwi-Boasiako for his contribution in the development and promotion of world cyber security; the MP for Oda, Alexander Akwasi Acquah, received a citation for his support to the school.
The 1999 Year Group also used the occasion to hand over their anniversary legacy project, water storage tanks, to the school to help solve the water problem in the school.
State of the school
In his report, the headmaster of ODASCO, Evans Boafo, said despite being one the best schools academically, the school currently faced many challenges. He mentioned some of the problems as the collapsed boys’ public place of convenience, lack of school library (the school library had been converted into a girls’ dormitory).
Mr Boafo, however, commended the MP for Oda for singlehandedly re-roofing the girls' dormitory which was destroyed by a severe rainstorm in 2021.
Support
Mr Acquah promised to complete the refurbishment of the girls dormitory block very soon.
The Omanhene of the Akyem Kotoku Traditional Area, Oseadieyo Dr Frimpong Manso IV, who was the guest of honour for the ceremony, urged the students to be guided by integrity, respect and be studious in order to go places in their academic pursuits.
Oseadieyo donated GH¢10,000 towards the school's development as well as some street lights to improve safety and security on campus.