Kenyan Parents Urged to Monitor Children’s online consumption

Parents

Now that the children have closed school for the holidays, it is no doubt that some if not most of them will be on their phones chatting and sharing pictures on the different social media platforms and browsing on the internet for what’s new and trendy. Some children as young as 10 years old own phones. This is totally different from how things were in the past. Nowadays children prefer staying indoors and using their phones or playing video games than playing outside.

ICT regulator Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) has urged parents and other guardians to be on the look out on the content their children consume online, especially during the ongoing long holidays.

Speaking at a consumer outreach event at Embu County recently, Mr. Gituku said CA’s national cyber-security centre had observed a sharp increase in the number of cyber-threats and incidents in the country, rising from 11.3million in the quarter ending in March 30 to 26.6 million between April 1 to June 30 this year.

“It is not enough to purchase smartphones and other devices and leave children on their own without providing the required guidance and controls,” the Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) Board Chair, Mr. Ngene Gituku, has said.

The CA Board Chairman said the Authority has a lot of online and physical Children Online Protection materials that could assist parents and guardians guarantee the safety of children online, and urged Embu residents to take advantage of the education resources.

Speaking at the same event, organized jointly by CA and the County Government of Embu, CA acting Director General Mrs. Mercy Wanjau said Embu residents enjoy good 2G and 3G mobile connectivity, with a respective population coverage of 99.8% and 88.2%.

Mrs. Wanjau said ICTs, if well harnessed, could contribute to increased food productivity in Embu and thus contribute to the government’s Big 4 Agenda on food security.

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