Spokesman News Service

Chandigarh: With the increase in the incidents related to the deadly Blue Whale Challenge — an online game in which the final task requires the player to do suicide, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has directed all the CBSE affiliated schools to promote a safe and secure educational environment for effective teaching and learning and to discourage students from actions detrimental to themselves, their peers and the value system.

 Schools are advised to take the following measures to pre-empt any inappropriate and illegal activity through IT enabled devices in schools:  Educate students for the safe and effective use of the Internet.

In a circular issued by the CBSE the board has said that the potential of Information technology as a valuable learning resource is immense. However, if children use the internet without safety awareness, they may fall prey to illegal activity or abuse such as cyber bullying, fraud or something even more serious.

Hence, awareness of internet safety norms is absolutely indispensable to make children free to explore knowledge without feeling intimidated. Increasing proliferation and sophistication of various electronic devices makes it all the more obligatory for schools to control and monitor their use by students.

 The board has also asked that the schools should also make children explicitly aware of the rule for the acceptable use of the Internet and display rules in this regard prominently.  

Install effective firewalls, filtering and monitoring software mechanisms in all the computers and regularly review filtering and blocking policies and procedures. Various types of unsolicited contents available on internet must be blocked.  Isolate Internet access from other school Network.

 Configure end user computer devices with parental control filters / Antivirus of appropriate standard.  Deploy Digital Surveillance system.

The schools are required to make Children using the Internet to work in highly-visible areas of the school and supervise and monitor all online activities in the light of educational objectives.

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Other important tips

Allow Children to access only pre-selected websites appropriate to their age group.

Aware the teachers and other school staffs about Internet safety norms.

Sensitise the parents about Internet safety norms.

 Take strict disciplinary action against those who attempt to bypass filtering or to access inappropriate or illegal material.

Disable the usernames and passwords of those who leave the school promptly.

 Do not allow to create accounts for fictitious children or groups.

 Comply with all relevant legislation on copyright, property theft, fraud, discrimination and obscenity on all forms of IT enabled devices.  

Avoid digital and video images of individual students or teachers on school websites for the safety of Children.  Use only the licensed version of softwares.

 Draft a school policy on the safe use of electronic devices and implement it