Parents have been called upon to pay close attention to what their children do on the internet.
Parliamentary secretary Kelvar Darroux made the appeal at the opening ceremony of the 2013 National ICT Fest at the Windsor Park Sports Stadium on Tuesday morning.
He said “parents have a vital role to play in ensuring that we safeguard what the children view on the internet, too many times students are seen on the computer and we have no idea what sites they are accessing and what they are being exposed to can be to their detriment.”
Darroux urged parents to supervise their children constantly since the internet can be a “double edged” sword. He indicated that legislation to bring perpetrators who post pornographic and other abusive videos on the internet to justice is being implemented by the government.
He said the government is using ICT which he described as one of the most dynamic sectors in the country, to assist in curbing the challenge of unemployment in Dominica.
Darroux emphasized the importance of implementing and strengthening legislation regarding ICT in Dominica and stressed the importance of reviewing ICT policies.
He said that the government will continue to provide scholarships to its citizens to study ICT which in turn will assist in developing the ICT sector in Dominca.
Minister for Information, Telecommunications and Constituency Empowerment Ambrose George, also spoke at the function. He pointed out that information technology is literally affecting almost every aspect of an individual’s daily life.
He said his government is also trying to sensitize the citizens on the important role that ICT Plays in the development of the nation.
One main objective of the ICT Fest is to showcase ICT solutions in as many sectors as possible as a means of facilitating national development and to find creative ways of getting ICT to have an impact on the ground level by reaching ordinary citizens.
Over 40 businesses are expected to participate in the 3 day ICT Fest.
The festival was officially declared open by the Minister for Public Service, Charles Savarin.
Their computer system could be programmed to block some Websites. I have a TV system and I could block some TV programs using “the Parental Control” section. It also has a Password section.
We do know that the same could be done with computers. Parents could get the assistance of a computer technician; if they can afford it.
Considering today most parents, especially the mothers are employed. I would recommend using a password and ID and not giving it to their young underage children. In this manner, if they are home alone or the parents are asleep and the computer is turned off, they cannot access it. This is a form of monitoring their computer activities. This includes the types of TV programs their view.
That is the Best you could come up with? like these politicians have nothing else to talk about.
Bondiere but what I seeing there nah? Some of us did not even have to be at that conference. Such hypocrites. They talking about watching what websites children might go to but some of them need to stop posting all kinds ‘position’ pics to married men. Leave people husbands alone.
Who is this guy…. larger countries with more resources can’t control what kids are exposed to online. Lets focus of fighting poverty.. instead of internet use… yuck!!
IKR…Little do they know, children learn things not only over the internet but all over.
Are you serious. So you don’t think that making an effort to protect our children from potential psychological damage is not an important issue? That’s an unfortunate lack of foresight.
They can if they want. They give their children too much leeway.
Y every thing has to be political? What he saying if true.some of will be shocked to see Dominican kids on face book
I can’t agree more… hence why i will now disagree…
Good luck in choosing safe websites. The internet was made with good intent (or so we are led to believe). It “connects” us after all.
Think for a second of how dangerous this is…
Humans are initially dark at heart. They can suppress this when they are alone (some of them).
Others require constant distraction or religious support.
The internet on the other hand, believe to be innocent at 1st, gets at u while your guard is down. 100% of the time.
Connect 2 or more ppl, is the same as mob mentality; hence why hatred can be felt through mediums like facebook, my space, twitter..etc.
Only darkness can be found in the hearts of man, initially that is… That’s why the baby is to be baptized. Some of you athetic morons may decide to argue that you dont believe. Sad to say, man, like most lifeforms, was given choice. With Choice come opinions. I don’t wanna hear your opinions. Don’t try to force my knee to bend.
All in all, connecting people to each other so easily is dangerous!!! 2 badminds meet online, kaboom. There goes your Boston and your twin towers. 1 evil thought, portrayed to an “innocent” child will remain on their mind all throughout their life. Why? It’s easier to do the bad thing and follow that thought, than to resist it. No?
If you tell people to be careful with the net, then you yourself need to be careful of how you go about it.
-Natures Antagonist…
He is 100% correct parents should be aware of what sites and what their children do on the internet. I second you on this one.
Parents are responsible for nurturing their children appropriately. No one will do this for them. They must also warn them about the perils of bad company.
Some parents are not as decent and private as other parents. When the children are at school they also learn what they should not know, for their young age, from their peers.
Today, the TV programs are full of pornography and such words. They hide nothing. Children who view TV do hear them.
In general, those adults who post pornography on their Websites including the types of TV programs they produce and show, God will hold them accountable for this and for tarnishing the minds of not only children but adults.
I am very selective what I view and read especially over the Internet. I have no time for garbage programs which are not educating and inspiring. I get bored with those types of programs as also soap operas which, in this era, I do not waste my time to view. In bygone years those soap operas were different and modest also in language. No more. We must be careful what we view and read. This also pertains to adults. If we willfully read and view immorality on those Websites and TV, God will hold us accountable.
All Christians should know what Our Lord Jesus Christ said about tarnishing the minds of little children and causing them to sin. He said: “Whoever causes one of those little ones to sin, it is better that a millstone be hung around his neck and he be thrown into the deep sea.” Such is Our Lord, God, against encouraging and teaching the children to sin. This also means God’s punishment will be severe on those adults. Much more could be stated about that.
May God bless and protect our children near and far, as the children of Dominica.
use web browsers that have parental control, that would solve the problem
You know, I really enjoy reading these articles and comments but sometimes there is an overwhelming urge to say something.
Something like how does any knowledgeable IT person in this day an age expect the average parent to watch over their children’s internet usage. Sir I politely ask, what is the age of the average computer hacker? Today’s children with the knowledge and networking available to them, will find a way to bypass most computer restrictions which can be placed by not only parents but even the system. An innovative child will find a way around the majority of security systems and then share that information.
So to make this a little shorter, this would be my proposal to the Government as to how to take good care of the children in Dominica today.
1. Ask the Chinese Government to donate some money and human resource to Dominica. The objective being to assist with extending school hours from 07:00hr to 17:00hr. The day should not only be dedicated to the study of the curricular but also time allotted to sports and other extra curricular activities such as Duke of Edinburgh which promotes safe hobbies that play a vital role in preparing the child for everyday life(Einstein theories alone can’t do that).
Such a school system maximizes on a human being learning years (birth to approximately 14), and provides vital control and nurturing while keeping the child in a safe environment.
2. The Government should approach all Internet Service Providers to assist in creating an island wide school network. The technology, hardware and other resources are readily available once you look in the right place. Such a network would provide the Education system with the tools to liaise with parents when it comes to the welfare of their child. Applications such as Skype, SMS and Facebook can be used to hold parent teacher conferences with hard to reach busy parents.
Once this network becomes the only legal means of any child under the age of consent accessing the internet, then it becomes a centrally managed progressive point of security which can be continually developed to be slightly ahead of the everyday child.
Now I know the first thing that we all think is where is the money to do that coming from.
But look at the amount of money being spent on the present Education and other systems put in place to take care of the children, yet are failing them.
Lets re-allocate these funds along with other monies obtained from radical changes like putting prisoners to do a healthy days work, into this.
I do apologize for writing all this, but I hope that it gets to the right people so that some real changes can be made to assist with the children of today.
Thank you for your time and patience in reading.
Give credit where it is due, I second the motion, and feel the Government has to be given credit for dealing with an on growing epidemic and nip it in the A/// before its to late. We as parents have to play our role to ensure the effective supervision of our children, a stitch in time will shape the lives of our children to be brought up as well discipline children our nation will benefit as a result.
Parents need to empower themselves as to how to set up fire walls to certain internet domains. You cannot expect that each time a child goes on the net to be there supervising. However, service providers could also assist in providing pulbic educational sessions on how to do such. Because not everybody that has a computer knows how to fully operate it at the highest level.
This is a great idea. This could be part of or the topic of a seminar or conference. We need to organize more events of this nature. They are relatively low cost to run yet they are very effective ways of disseminating information and getting people interested in these topics.
for true all u have to be very careful with kids on internet,first of all u have to realize that they know much more about it then you think they know and secondly there is nothing more corious than a child and they will not ask the parents questions like we used too,they will get all the info from the web,i was looking for a site about football and it brought me to a porn site,a child would open this and be forever scared by the images,my advice is to allow your children to use your computer but never alone or when you are not in the room,we can not care about our children on one hand and on the other allow them free access to all the world as to offer lol
“will not ask the parents questions like we used too?” Which Dominican child do you know was encouraged to ask the parents questions in years gone by? Back in the day, a child was “seen and not heard.”
true but my parents,thank God,were educated and not ignorant,so sorry yours were not
Exactly such foolishness in our culture is the cause for a lot of bad attitudes that our children grow up with. Sad thing is we don’t even realize that and we just keep blaming tv, modernization etc. Ignorance is bliss they say but to me it’s more of a blister.
There is something called ‘parental control’.
“WHAT” since I couldn’t respond to your personal comment below, allow me to do it here. To the contrary, it is because of MY parents, that I now enjoy the lifestyle that I have.
election programmes people do not be fooled
everything allu dominicans have to turn it into a political issue then..smh..what Mr. darroux is saying is the truth..take heed and avoid being embarrassed wen allu see certain things allu children are doin
you are the one who is a fool does everything have to be about politic my god why can’t you say somthing good or don;t say anything.