Sascha Wil­son

Se­nior Re­porter

sascha.wil­son@guardian.co.tt

Con­cerned about the con­tent girls share on the In­ter­net, World As­so­ci­a­tion of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) pro­gramme com­mis­sion­er Jacque­line Dol­ly be­lieves there is a need for more pro­grammes to ed­u­cate girls on the prop­er use of the In­ter­net.

Dol­ly was ad­dress­ing stu­dents at St Joseph’s Con­vent in San Fer­nan­do on Wednes­day, dur­ing a func­tion to cel­e­brate In­ter­na­tion­al Day of the Girl Child.

She said, “One of the chal­lenges I feel they are fac­ing is how to use the In­ter­net in a pos­i­tive way, be­cause, as I said, it can de­stroy them. I be­lieve that girls must re­al­ly be taught about the ad­van­tages of the In­ter­net. Let them know that there are things that they put up there and they stay for­ev­er. There is no way of tak­ing it down.”

She said they might re­gret it lat­er on in their life but it would be too late.

“I feel more and more pro­grammes to ed­u­cate them about that as­pect of the In­ter­net, I think, is need­ed.”

She added that there were al­so some male-dom­i­nat­ed jobs, in which women still do not re­ceive equal pay and re­spect as their male coun­ter­parts.

Ad­dress­ing the func­tion, Dol­ly said so­ci­ety has come a long way in recog­nis­ing the con­tri­bu­tion of girls, as there was a time when girls were de­nied an ed­u­ca­tion, but there is still a long way to go.

De­spite the chal­lenges they face, she en­cour­aged girls to re­main re­silient and strong.

Es­ti­mat­ing that there are over 3,000 Girl Guides mem­bers in the coun­try, more so in pri­ma­ry schools, she said there was a time when each school was in­volved in Girl Guides, but this has dwin­dled be­cause of chal­lenges get­ting teach­ers to vol­un­teer in lead­er­ship po­si­tions.

Chief com­mis­sion­er De­bra East said the school is the on­ly or­gan­i­sa­tion she is aware of that has cel­e­brat­ed this event since its in­cep­tion in 2012.

Ex­plain­ing that the WAGGGS’ theme, Pre­pared to Change the World, comes from Sus­tain­able De­vel­op­ment Goal 5, Gen­der Equal­i­ty, she said, “The idea is that if we pre­pare our girls, that we en­cour­age them, we build re­silience, we equip them with the tools and skills need­ed that they will be brave enough, you will be brave enough be­cause you will feel equipped and have the re­silience and you will be able to change the world and make it a place where you will like to in­hab­it.”

Al­so present at the event were San Fer­nan­do Ro­tary Club mem­bers.