Safer Internet day: Facebook reassures on safety options for African child

ITRealms:

Facebook has reassured that efforts are ongoing to ensure Africans, especially children and youth are safe on the Internet with the introduction of series of initiatives, reports ITRealms.

According to Facebook, this is a set of protective tools that range from awareness to digital protections and physical protections.

These tools include the "I'm Safe" button, which Facebook said, allow communities to keep control and support each other during crises while ensuring their online security are intact.

Reports by ICTMag quoted Facebook officials in Cameroun as saying that the tool has become widespread.

Additionally, ITRealms gathered that the ranks of the innovations of Facobook include the U2F security key, which allows users to protect their account against hackers, hence, the user could lock his account with a physical key and configure it so that it opens only if these "usb keys" are connected to the PC.

Further, Facebook has revised the design of its Security Center to provide its users with information that will enable them to control their data, and thereby ensure their security.

These measures, Facebook noted activates the leveraging of awareness, by providing financial and marketing support to several players, which enables them to raise public awareness of online security.

Among these partners, Watoto Watch in Kenya, the International Center for Leadership Development and the Women's Technological Empowerment Center in Nigeria, the South Africa Film and Publications Committee, JOXAfrica, also specialized in The cause of childhood in Senegal, Tech Women in Zimbabwe as well as J Initiative and Ghana Ghana Internet Safety Foundation.

Chuks Egbune with additional report from ICTMag/GEE

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Every African child should know programming – TechQuest founder

ITRealms

One of the co-founders of TechQuest, Charles Emembolu has said the company believes that every African child should know how to program a computer, ITRealms reports.

 “At TechQuest, we believe every African child should know how to program a computer, so we’ve taken up the challenge to deliver that high-quality, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education,” Emembolu said.

In a press release TechQuest announced that its second set of campers will begin their two-week technology training camp on Monday, August 17, 2015 in 2 centres in Victoria Island and Ikeja.

Designed to provide African children with an educational experience at par with their peers all over the world, TechQuest Camp has adopted Google’s CS First curriculum, Pluralsight’s Kids Training as well as content from Code.org and Codecademy.

In July 2015, TechQuest kicked off in the Yaba and Lekki areas of Lagos, Nigeria through its partner centres - iDEA and CapitalSquare respectively. 36 participants were able to write their first lines of code, build their first games and take a shot at building their personal websites.

Shedding more light on the essence of TechQuest, Charles Emembolu has this to say - “While we may assume that our children are ‘tech-savvy’ or ‘digital natives’ because they can play games and record videos on smartphones and tablet computers, what we have today is a situation where majority of them are actually "semi-computer-literate”

TechQuest Camp, will run for 6 hours a day (9am - 3pm), 5 (or 6) days a week, for 2-week periods (preferably during holidays in the following centres: Victoria Island: Coral Hall, Mothercare, 21b Idowu Martins Street, opposite Mega Plaza, Victoria Island, Lagos and in Ikeja: IDM Building, 9/20 Oba Akran Avenue, Ikeja, Lagos.

Cyriacus Nnaji/GEE

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Pix:Charles Emembolu