Kerala has rolled out a cyber safety protocol for school students across the State.
Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE) prepared the protocol following a recommendation made by the Assembly Committee for the Welfare of Women, Children, and Differently Abled.
The protocol, meant for safeguarding the State’s school children from cyber attacks, leaves the onus on school heads for ensuring a series of guidelines. Head of an institution should ensure password protection for Internet searching.
All schools will have to undergo cyber safety audits every six months. Apart from ensuring safe search methods, schools should facilitate uninterrupted Internet availability to students under the supervision of teachers. Instructions for secure search should be displayed in classrooms.
The protocol advises teachers to browse and download ICT content for classes well in advance. “Searching for them in the presence of students may accidentally expose the students to unwanted content,” said K. Anvar Sadath, executive director of KITE. Teachers have been advised to pre-check the websites for their security before suggesting them to students. Head teachers have been asked to restrict Internet usage at schools for learning activities and official purposes. The Samagra Resource portal developed by KITE has ICT content for all classes. “School should make use of them,” said Mr. Sadath.
11 directives
The 11 specific directives for the students to follow include restrictions in saving individual information and pictures on public computers, restriction in downloading from untrusted websites, restriction in handing over mobile phones and laptops to strangers, restriction in sharing personal information on social media, avoiding direct meeting with anyone befriended through Internet, avoiding sharing or using of parents’ credit cards, and exercising extreme caution while playing online games.
The protocol asks headmasters to conduct discussions on cyber safety and cyber crimes portions given in ICT textbooks of Classes 8, 9, and 10. Detailed information is given on phishing, cyber stalking, deepfakes, camera hacking, and sexting. Students have also been warned against trolling and forwarding trolls. Parents too have been advised to exercise caution. “Most often, we see that cyber safety awareness classes are limited to speeches. By effectively using ICT, we have devised a practical plan for eradicating the misuse of Internet,” says Mr. Sadath in the preface of the protocol.
The protocol suggests that Little KITEs clubs in school be utilised for identifying and addressing cyber threats. According to Mr. Sadath, cyber safety clinics will soon be established at schools. “A specific module on effective and secure use of the Internet and social media will be included in the teacher training programmes,” he said. The cyber safety protocol is made available on the website of KITE.