Parents have been urged to show a keen interest in the type of content their children post or watch on the internet and the various social media platforms.

The Ashanti Regional Director of the Department of Children, Mr Stephen Ofosu who made the call, said parents had a critical role to play in the kind of information their children assimilate from the internet.

He advised parents to monitor and encourage the children to be circumspect when posting stuff on the internet.

He was speaking at an outreach program in some schools and markets in Kumasi to mark this year’s Safer Internet Day celebration.

It was organized by the Ashanti regional Department of Children under the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection as part of efforts to promote safer use of the internet by children and the youth.

This year’s celebration, was on the theme “Positioning and Partnering for Child Online Protection, was supported by Child Online Africa, a child welfare NGO.

Among the schools visited were the A.M.E Zion JHS and Ahmadiyya Islamic JHS cluster of schools in Kumasi.

Mr Ofosu, stressed the need for children to ensure that content posted on the internet did not carry pornography and other harmful materials that could destroy their holistic development.

Adding that children must use the internet for research and educational purposes to enhance their academic performances.

Mr Ofosu also advised the school children and market women to continue to adhere strictly to all the Covid-19 preventive protocols to reduce the rise in the number of positive cases in the country.