Full marks for safe surfing

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Recently, United Kingdom’s Information Commissioner’s Office sent out word to all schools in the country that teachers will be provided with resources on the potential risks of posting information online, especially on social networking websites such as Facebook, Orkut and Twitter, and explaining to the pupils the rights they have to demand websites delete their data.

The move comes at a time when even children are active on the Internet, having Facebook accounts of their own, owning smartphones to constantly surf the web and are also tech savvy enough to make online purchases from websites that offer cash on delivery facility.
The scenario in India is no different. Rakshit Tandon, a cyber security consultant with the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), has been part of the Safe Surfing Campaign that has got in touch with over 5.5 lakh students in 54 cities across 13 states about the need to be cautious of sharing information over the Internet. He says, “These days, children as young as 10 have started having a strong online presence, which was not the case a few years back. They must be made aware of the dangers of cyber stalking, hacking, viruses and the like. And owing to their naivety, they are never fully aware of the consequences of their actions on the web. This has also got to do with the fact that often, the Internet gives people a false sense of anonymity.”
So does it become imperative that a curriculum with adequate information to students on safe surfing is long over-due? Says Ajeeth Prasath Jain, senior principal at Bhavan’s Rajaji Vidyashram, a Chennai-based school, “Irrespective of whether any education board directs a school to include it as part of their curriculum, it is high time every school introduces a programme of their own. We regularly have workshops on safe surfing but given the fact that students are increasingly becoming dependent on the Internet, the volume of input must increase.”
Rakshit Tandon agrees that a one-time workshop or seminar on safe surfing won’t do, for the Internet is not a static medium. He says, “It’s important that schools introduce safe surfing as an interesting subject as part of their regular curriculum because for a medium as dynamic as the Internet, updates are a must.”
Well, one thing that is fairly clear is that official gazette or not, it’s time educational institutions gave the subject of safe surfing the importance it truly deserves!