Teachers and school children at the Odomase Model School and Presbyterian Junior High School in the Sunyani West Municipality have undergone a three-day training on digital space and cyber-security.

The Africa Rural Internet and STEM Initiative (AFRISTEMI) facilitated the training to commemorate the 2025 Global Encryption Day on the theme “From Classroom to Cyberspace: Staying Safe with Encryption”.

The Global Encryption Day falls on October 21, every year and is celebrated to promote and defend encryption in key countries and multilateral forms where it is under threat.

It also supports efforts by companies to offer encrypted services to their users.

The training was jointly organised by the Global Encryption Coalition, the Internet Society’s Cyber Security, Special Interest Group and Online Safety Specialist Interest Group, and sought to enlighten the participants on digital space and cyber-security.

The training held at Odomase, the Municipal capital, exposed them to other online information and security, empowering them to generate stronger passwords for secured websites and internet usage.

Speaking in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the sidelines of the closing session of the training, Mr Shadrach Ankrah, the Founder and Executive Director of AFRISTEMI stressed the need to empower teachers and school children to remain safe on the internet.

The training empowered them to master the arts of creating strong and unique passwords and to establish their first line of defense for their digital identities.

Mr Ankrah said the participants were also taken through basic skills like fundamentals of encryption, data protection, and private information for a more secure online presence.

Other topics include identification and navigating online dangers and threats, cyberbullying, and sextortion.

He said it was imperative for school children to be empowered to recognize malicious behaviours and understand and protect their digital identities from harm and to “turn them from potential victims into vigilant users”.

That would enable them to explore the digital realm safely and securely, he stated.

Certificates of merit were later presented to the participants.