Blue Whale: CBSE asks schools to install firewalls

In the wake of the controversial ‘Blue Whale Challenge’ reportedly becoming popular among kids in India, the CBSE has issued advisory to schools asking them to install firewalled network.

The advisory titled, ‘Guidelines for safe and effective use of Internet and digital technologies in schools and school buses’, lists what schools need to take care of. One of the important advice is to avoid digital images or video of students and teachers on website of schools.

Most schools in the city, off late, have been putting photographs of best performers or activities on Facebook and other social media platforms. While the photographs and videos are essentially being put for parents’ consumption, the board has taken a stringent view as cyberbullying cases are on the rise. On the advisory, schools said installing firewalls is expensive.

Surender Sachdeva, principal, DPS Bopal, said, “Though CBSE keeps issuing guidelines from time to time, this one comes in the wake of video games like Blue Whale Challenge. We live in times when social media abuse can turn out to be dangerous. Many a times, messages on WhatsApp are misleading. Similarly, Instagram, Twitter and other such platforms can be used for bullying and challenge impressionable minds.”

Ruchi Chaudhary, Managing Trustee, Shanku’s Foundation, Divine Child International School (DCIS), said, “We have a cyber room since two years in our school that restricts websites that we do not want our students to access. It is a good thing by the board to issue advisory but I feel a similar advisory should be issued for parents and children as well.”

Manan Choksi, Executive Director, Udgam School for Children, said, “The advisory seems to be adapted from the Western culture where one needs permission to put photographs on website or making them public. However, the situation in India is different. Here the parents want photographs of their children to be put on various platforms to rest their own anxiety. With the present advisory, schools can blur the photographs if parents wish so. At Udgam, we share more photographs on a more secure platform — our school mobile app.”

THE GUIDELINE

The advisory titled, ‘Guidelines for safe and effective use of Internet and digital technologies in schools and school buses’, lists what schools need to take care of.
One of the important advice given by the CBSE is to avoid digital images or video of students and teachers on website of schools.

Source : dnaindia.com

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