Five workshops were held on Friday at the Guyana International Conference Center, Liliendaal, for children between the age groups of 9 and 14 to develop their capabilities in the application of ICT for creative and innovative activities.

The workshops also aimed to teach the children to use ICT for effective and appropriate communications; and to educate teachers and parents on how to teach children about benefits and risks online.

This was the action on Friday at the first Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Festival hosted by Caricom in collaboration with the European Union and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Government Information Agency (GINA) reported.

World Telecommunication and Information Society Day was observed on May 17 under the theme “Protecting Children in Cyberspace” and the event on Friday was hosted under the same premise.

Among those participating in the festival were the Guyana Telephone and Telegraph (GT&T) company, Digicel, UG, Pressy’s Enterprise, Guyana Net, GINA and Starr Computers.

The festival was declared open by Minister of Education Shaik Baksh, who expressed his gratitude for the partnership between Caricom and UNICEF.
Baksh said the Ministry of Education had a clear vision of its goals in terms of technology and is working assiduously towards achieving them.
“Within the next five years all secondary as well as post- secondary schools must have fully equipped computer laboratories, along with 50 percent of primary schools,” Baksh was quoted by GINA as saying.

He said also that funds are being procured to make this quantum leap into the digital age and the ministry has a direct objective to use technology as a teaching tool and promote Open Distance Learning (OPL) in schools and at the University of Guyana (UG).

Meanwhile, Caricom Secretariat official, Jacqueline Joseph noted that ICT “opens up a world to young people but at the same time opens young people up to the world.”

And she stressed the need for parents, educators and policy makers to understand and identify the risks and benefits involved in the technological age. Joseph disclosed that on a popular website a significant number of sex offenders were cited and taken off in the last two years, and she reiterated her appeal for young people to seek the positive aspects of technology.