At close of ICT Camp: P & T minister urges youth to be responsible social media users.

She made the appeal while closing the 2024 edition of the Holiday ICT Camp, held at the campus of Government High School Edea in the Sanaga-Maritime Division of the Littoral Region.

The closing ceremony, organised Saturday, August 24, was attended by the Senior Divisional Officer, SDO, of Sanaga-Maritime, Cyrille Yvan Abondo, Members of Parliament, municipal authorities and elite of the area, amongst other dignitaries. 

The 8th edition of holiday camp, which ran from August 20 to 24, was placed under the theme: “Artificial Intelligence: opportunities and challenges for patriotic youths”.

The camping brought together over 1,000 young people of between the ages of 10 and 18, from the town of Edea and its environs. 

The five-day camping was marked by ICT and artificial intelligence awareness-raising workshops, educational talks on civic and patriotic use of digital platforms and the fight against disinformation, and online hate speech. The campers also participated in sporting, cultural and other group activities.

Minister’s appeal to youth

In her closing remark, Minister Libom Li Likeng called on the youth to use the social media responsibly by being active users and not to naively relay information. 

While quoting the 2018 address to the youth of President of the Republic, the minister reminded them to be “patriotic internet users” and not passive followers. 

“Dear young people, thanks to the ever-evolving digital world, we have access to a world of opportunities and knowledge via the internet. However, it is essential to develop a responsible and committed approach to the use of technology,” the minister said. 

Despite the opportunities posed by the digital economy, the member of government reiterated the need for the youth to beware of threats like cyberbullying, cyber-harassment, disinformation, incitement to violence and hate speech. 

“Now even with Artificial Intelligence, there is a lot of risks. So, the main message for young people is that though ICT brings a lot of opportunities, they are called upon to use ICT and to be secured online. Most are not aware of the dangers they are going to face,” she said. 

Peculiarity of 8th edition

Speaking to the press, the minister said the pertinence of the ICT Holiday Camp is justified by its longevity. 

Quizzed on the peculiarity of the 2024 edition, Minister Libom Li Likeng stressed that each year is different from the previous one and the enthusiasm of the youth is enough motivation to her ministry and partners to continue organising the camp.

“The ICT Holiday Camp is to promote ICT in semi-urban areas. The youth of Edea surprised me as they are well informed about ICTs and are engaged to the point where they quickly understood the stakes of artificial intelligence. The supervisors worked with them on the elements that would improve their mastery of Artificial Intelligence and to implement them to face the challenges,” she stated. 

This year’s holiday camp also witnessed a numeric improvement from the previous sessions. Before Edea, the ICT Holiday Camp previously held in Obala in 2023, Lolodorf in 2022, and Bertoua in 2021. 

Participants react

The beneficiaries of the camp in Edea expressed gratitude to the Minister of Posts and Telecommunications for taking the holiday camp to their area. 

According to them, the camp was very impactful as their knowledge of ICT and Artificial Intelligence has greatly improved. 

“During this camp, we learnt about what Artificial Intelligence is, the advantages and inconveniences of Artificial Intelligence. We learned that AI can perform several tasks than humans,” Tsagiue Dareine, one of the participants, told The Guardian Post. 

“We also learned that AI also brings overdependence by students on AI to do their assignments. Students no longer go to libraries or do research for the school work,” she added.

Tanue Nelson Clifford, Pedagogic Assistant at the 2024 ICT Holiday Camp, said the objective of the camp was to inculcate into the youth and children in the rural and semi urban areas the opportunities offered by AI.

“We have observed that with the evolution of digital technologies, our youth spend time on these platforms to cause havoc than taking advantages of the opportunities. Some use it as an opportunity to insult public administrators,” Tanue said.

Meanwhile, some ICT gadgets like computers, printers, scanners, amongst others, were handed over by the minister to some municipal authorities and administrators in the area. 

This story was first published in The Guardian Post issue No:3210 of Monday August 26, 2024