Page 58 - EW April 2021

Special Essay

Protecting children against

the Dark Internet

SUCHINDRA KUMAR

HE OVERWHELMING MAJORITY OF SCHOOL With parents and schools anxious about
children — especially private school children — are
digital natives. The Internet is their go-to medium children accessing child inappropriate
Tfor information, socialising, entertainment and content on the Internet, it’s upto
just about everything else. In the interest of their students,
schools have been incorporating technology-driven tools in education institutions to advise and
their teaching-learning systems. This trend towards digi- guide parents, teachers and children
tal learning has accelerated during the Covid-19 induced
lockdown.
What gets lost in these difficult times is awareness of check out the Child Safety Team framework of the Benga-
the pitfalls of heavy reliance on the Internet and new tech- luru-based company Vedantu, which offers a code of con-
nologies. The three major risks to which online learners duct for teachers and educators on its online platform. The
are exposed: framework includes essays on orderly conduct of online
Content risk. The Internet is a repository of all types of classes, defining prohibited language, gestures etc.
content — good, bad and ugly. Children have easy access to Consumer risk. Data privacy theft, phishing attacks and
unregulated harmful and hateful content (promoting en- other malpractices have also exploded in India during the
mity between religious communities), illegal content (pi- Covid-19 pandemic era. In June 2020, Microsoft Security
rated software, games and pornography) and misleading Intelligence reported that the education sector accounts for
content such as biased information and fake news. Most 61 percent of the 7.7 million Malware attacks experienced
children lack the judgement and self-discipline to discern by enterprises in the previous 30 days — higher than in any
harmful content. A survey conducted last September by In- other sector.
ternetMatters, a global Internet advocacy group, highlights ith parents and schools becoming increasingly anx-
that increased usage of digital devices and smartphones has Wious about their children accessing safe and child ap-
prompted new anxieties about children’s development. propriate content and learning resources on the Internet,
To reduce the incidence of children accessing harmful it’s up to educational institutions including schools, to ad-
and irrelevant content, school managements could check vise and guide students (and teachers) on ways and means
out the website of Wizenoze, a Dutch edtech startup. It to minimise the risks of cyber-bullying, fraud, seduction
uses technology to make the Internet safe for learners. New and children being led astray by the multiplying tribe of
technology has been leveraged to curate learning resources evil Internet predators.
from across the Internet in reliable and enabling formats. Some of the initiatives schools can undertake to safe-
This allows schools and content providers to provide safe guard their learners are:
learning and cost-effective platforms for young learners. • Prescribing basic do’s and don’ts. Formulating and
Likewise, Google has innovated YouTube Kids, a platform publishing behavioural expectations and warning of disci-
offering safe video content for users in the 3-12 age group. plinary consequences for breaches of published norms, is
The Wizenoze app was launched in India last November. a good starting point.
Conduct risk. Positive Internet usage requires behav- • Establishing communication channels. Schools
ioural norms for people-to-people interaction. For instance, should set up help desks and online counselling services
it has brought out the menace of cyber-bullying. Online for teachers, students and parents to make them aware of
tutors — a huge proportion of whom are poorly or inad- online safety.
equately trained — are interacting recklessly with students • It would be advisable for institutional manage-
resulting in hateful encounters. Young learners are often ments to update their technology and enforce password
vilified for their gender, religious beliefs, unfamiliar accents policies for digital classrooms to ensure child safety. It
and lack of familiarity with Internet mores. might be useful to appoint a tech consultant (on retainer)
In an Indian context, this challenge is more formidable to provide child safety and related advice periodically.
because the majority of learners have moved online for the • Teacher sensitisation training. The majority of
first time during the Covid-19 pandemic. They are first-time teachers are also embracing the Internet for the first time in
users, less aware of the cyber bullying phenomenon and the pandemic era. They need aid and advice to manage the
easy targets. According to a report by Comparitech, a UK- multiplying complexities and dangers of the Dark Internet.
based company, India tops the list of countries where par- • Schools are advised to study the NCERT-Unicef
ents have reported children being cyber-bullied. In 2011-18, guidelines (https://ncert.nic.in/pdf/announcement/Safe-
the number of complaints has risen three-fold to 37 percent tolearn_English.pdf) to institute child safety norms.
— the highest worldwide. (Suchindra Kumar is the country director-India of Wizenoze, and former
In this connection, school managements are advised to partner with Ernst & Young (India) leading the firm’s education practice)

60 EDUCATIONWORLD APRIL 2021