The Vice Chancellor (VC) of the Catholic University College of Ghana (CUCG), Professor Daniel Obeng-Ofori, is urging the government to regulate internet use by minors to give them protection.

He indicated that their unrestrained internet access was not healthy, could corrupt their morals and expose to them to real dangers. Prof Obeng-Ofori was speaking at a graduation ceremony held in Fiapre for 13 people, who had completed eight weeks training in “Safeguarding of Minors”.

The course is a collaborative certificate programme run by the Centre for Child Protection (CCP) of the Institute of Psychology, the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, and the CUCG. The Vice Chancellor said the lack of national policy to guide internet use by children gave cause for worry and remained a major challenge to their proper upbringing.

He pointed out that child protection was a collective responsibility and a vital ingredient for national development, reminding every adult that, they had each in a way benefited from the protection by parents, guardians, teachers and caregivers. Prof Obeng-Ofori complained about child neglect and abuse and called for all to work together to tackle these.

The Reverend Sister Rejoice Enyonam Hoedoafia, a Research Assistant at the CCP, said the Centre was developing a distant learning programme (e-learning) for safeguarding minors.

She said the programme would be available in six languages – English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish and that it would be most beneficial to people in the academic field and those, who needed practical skills for safeguarding children.