Selebi Phikwe — Kgosi Molosiwa Molosiwa of Kagiso Customary Court in Selebi Phikwe has encouraged the youth to use digital technology to improve their lives.
In an interview, Kgosi Molosiwa said the youth could use technology to apply for jobs online, purchase stock, create employment and market their businesses.
He also commended government for continuing to transform the lives of citizens, noting that internet was a necessity in today's world, where almost everything was done online.
"Our community, especially young people, visit the kgotla in large numbers to access free Internet," said Kgosi Molosiwa.
Though the positives brought about by technology exceed the negatives, Kgosi Molosiwa is worried about the safety of young people who throng schools and customary courts areas at night for free Internet.
"Every night you will see a group of young people by the school gates or customary court gates to access Internet. This is not safe and I urge them to desist from doing that because the crime rate has escalated," he said.
Chief education officer, Mr Tshwarelo Hosia also commended government for connecting Internet in schools and giving pupils at secondary schools laptops.
He said distribution of laptops would also be done at junior secondary and primary schools with time so that every child had Internet access as well as proper gadgets to use for research projects.
Mr Hosia said those gadgets would go a long way to improving teaching academic results.
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He urged parents to also intensify monitoring the use of those gadgets so that children did not end up accessing age restrictive sites.
Meanwhile, a young person residing at Distance in Selebi Phikwe, Mr Oratile Moleki said, "I am no longer struggling to do my homework, it there are concepts I do not understand, I walk to the nearby customary court or school to access Internet and do some research."
Mr Moleki said free internet had made him feel at par with those who had Internet at home because he could access it at any time, adding that prior to that he spent a lot of money at internet cafes.
For Thabiso Mosweu, free Internet gave her free entertainment in the form of movies and music.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which led to limited human contact, has given rise to the use of digital technologies to access services and interact with other people across the world.
Employers too have also changed gears to accept online job applications instead of hard copies, resulting in a high demand for Internet services.
Therefore, government did not only make Internet accessible in public schools, libraries and customary courts, but also extended the free service to members of the public.
BOPA
