Zambia’s education minister has warned youths in the country against involvement in online pornography and cybercrime.

The minister of education Dr John Phiri said youths should not use computers and the internet to commit cybercrime or for watching pornography but to gain knowledge on issues around them.

The southern African nation has been faced with a challenge of online pornography and cybercrime by youths.

The latest case of cybercrime in the country involves a blind youth who hacked and gained access into mobile operator Airtel Zambia and siphoned airtime over $3,500 belonging to ministers, lawmakers and business executives.

The court convicted him of seven counts of unauthorised access to Airtel’s database.

In Zambia, watching pornography just like cybercrime is a serious offence that can send the offender to prison for no less than two years.

The Zambia Information and Communication Technology Authority (ZICTA) is already in partnership with the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef) on cyber security matters in a bid to create awareness among Zambian children about the optimal and safe use of ICTs.

Phiri said computers in schools should not be abused by being used to commit cybercrimes and watching pornography.

“I implore you not to expose yourselves to negative aspects of technology such as cybercrime and pornography. Use computers only to gain knowledge on issues around you,” Phiri said.

The Zambian government through ZICTA is currently distributing computers in schools across the country through a “Connecting Learning Institutions” project aimed at establishing computer labs in learning institutions. The computers are also being connected to the internet.