(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) Ms. Jennifer Britton, Coordinator of the Information Communication Technology for Development (ICT4D) Sub-Programme, CARICOM Secretariat, while addressing opening ceremony of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) Secretariat’s Information Communication Technology (ICT) Youth Festival on Friday, May 22, 2009, emphasized that there were constructive uses of ICT for the youth.

“In cyberspace, young people are a mouse click away from exploring the world’s greatest museums, libraries and universities,” she said.

Against this backdrop, Ms Britton said that parents and teachers must be encouraged to take advantage of the internet’s incredible educational and recreational opportunities.

She stated that it was critical to propagate the usefulness of ICT because of the length of time young people spend online, as well as the fact that they were often among the first to take advantage of new developments in Internet technologies.

“Nearly 30 million children and youth go online to research homework assignments and to learn about the world they live in… youth ages 12-17 are spending substantial amount time on the internet- spending one to five hours surfing the web, e-mailing,” Ms Britton said.

She said this new communication technology is an “important factor in how children learn and grow; some educators believe that children who become familiar with online technology while growing will lead fuller lives and compete more successfully for careers in the Information age.”

Unfortunately, Ms Britton noted, cyberspace was not “always a safe place for youngsters to visit” with “dark corners and back alleys where criminal activity flourishes and electronic action can entail physical repercussions.”

“In the Internet of today, the electronic actions of the unwary and vulnerable can lead to stalking, theft, and other malicious crimination actions,” she added.

It was against this backdrop, she said, that the CARICOM Secretariat, UNICEF, the Ministry of Education, Guyana, and private sector companies in Guyana involved in the business of ICT, had collaborated to bring to the fore the myriad productive, fun, and safe uses of digital technologies.