• 27 Sep 2017 | Mumbai | Shreya Bhandary and Musab Qazi htmetro@hindustantimes.com

Tech a new turn for city schools

Digital boards, mobile apps and new softwares – city schools come up with ways to keep in touch with parents, make students tech­savvy

MUMBAI : From digital boards in classrooms and mobile apps to closed-circuit television cameras – Mumbai schools are doing all this and more to keep up with the changing tech-savvy times.


A case in point could be Bandra’s Rizvi Education Society’s school. Here, teachers no longer shout out names of students to mark their attendance. The school has set up a biometric system — a device to register attendance using thumb impression – at the entrance. They have also introduced mobile application for parentteacher interaction and gone paperless for the admission process. The aim is to reduce paper work, reduce administrative hassles and bring in transparency in the functioning of the school.

“Paperless admissions have made the process transparent. Parents, too, are at peace as they get daily updates on their child’s attendance without visiting the institute,” said AH Rizvi, president, Rizvi Education Society, adding all seven institutes managed by the group have got the system for staff and students.
In their second phase of digital revolution, the group will start online assessment of answer sheets, similar to other schools in the city.

The Children’s Academy in Malad (E) introduced online assessment for physics, chemistry and biology papers of Class 8 students this year. The new software is being introduced in phases to ensure it works smoothly. “Our teachers underwent thorough training. Once the assessment work started, care was taken to ensure the results are error-free,” said Rohan Bhat, principal.

The system allows students and parents to access the corrected answer sheets online. The school has so far received positive response from parents. “We want to introduce this system for other classes too, but the software is expensive. We will first consult with parents before going ahead with the plan,” said Bhat.

Meanwhile, RN Podar School in Santacruz has successfully implemented flipped classroom -- a new method of learning at home to give students respite from dreary lectures. Their science and mathematics classes are conducted using audio-visual aids delivered to students in the form of pre-recorded videos that they can watch at home. The exercise is then discussed in class using various activities to solve students’ problems.
“When students come to the classroom they already have knowledge about the topic being taught. As a result, teachers get more time to focus on problem-solving,” said Avnita Bir, principal of the school.

The transition, however, wasn’t easy. Parents were initially apprehensive and students, too, were used to the old method of teaching. Soon, they realised unless they come prepared to the classroom, they would be left behind. The videos contain pop-up questions to make them more engaging for children.

Many schools in the city are using mobile applications to keep parents in loop about the progress of their children and happenings in the school. These applications, which are often connected to the school’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) software - better known as school management system - provide instant access to details about examination, results, attendance record and notifications. The applications also allow parents to interact with teachers without visiting the school.

The applications also come with a host of other features, such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) to track children and school buses. The application even alerts anxious parents as soon as their children enter the school.

Some schools, like Smt. Sulochana Devi Singhania School in Thane, are developing their own in-house applications to connect with parents. The parents were provided access to the school’s ERP system eight years ago while a chat application ‘MTalk’ been facilitating interaction between parents and teachers. “We are now developing a mobile app to keep in touch with parents,” said Revathi Srinivasan, principal of the school.

Source: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper

CBSE issues circular on safety of students

Thiruvananthapuram , September 14, 2017 19:49 IST

Updated: September 14, 2017 20:23 IST

File picture for representational purpose.   | Photo Credit: R. Ragu

Moots CCTV cameras and psychometric evaluation of staff members

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has issued a circular laying down steps to ensure safety of children in schools, including installation of closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras on school premises and police verification and psychometric evaluation of all staff members.

The circular comes against the backdrop of a series of incidents in schools across the country in recent times, including the Gurugram murder. It said that as children spent most of their time in school, parents’ concern about the safety of schoolchildren and their mental and emotional health is increasing, particularly in the wake of incidents involving their safety.

The onus on safety and security of children on school campus should solely lie with the school authorities, the circular said adding that it was the fundamental right of children to study in an environment where they felt safe and free from any form of physical or emotional abuse or harassment.

Accordingly, schools have been asked to get a security/safety audit of the premises and personnel done by the local police station concerned and follow security-related advice for the safety of schoolchildren. It called for detailed checks in the case of non-teaching staff such as bus drivers, conductors, peons, and other support staff.

Supporting staff should be employed only from authorised agencies and proper records should be maintained.

The circular asked schools to report about the compliance on the CBSE website www.cbse.nic.in within two months.

Besides installing CCTV cameras at all vulnerable areas/points on school premises, schools had been asked to ensure that these were functional. Parent-teacher-student committees should be set up to address the safety needs of the students, and parents’ feedback taken regularly.

Significantly, it called for controlling access to school building by outsiders and monitoring of visitors. The circular said staff should be given training to discharge their responsibility to protect children from any form of abuse.

Schools should constitute separate committees for redressal of public/ staff/ parents/ students grievances, an internal complaints committee on sexual harassment, and committees under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offence) Act, and display details of these committees, along with contact details, on the school notice board and on the school website, the circular said, adding that any violation/lapses with regard to student safety and well-being would invite action, including disaffiliation of the school.

Source: http://www.thehindu.com/education/schools/cbse-issues-circular-on-students-safety/article19684817.ece

• 15 Sep 2017 | Mumbai  | A Mariyam Alavi letters@hindustantimes.com

Schools need an eye beyond CCTV cameras

IMPROVING INFRASTRUCTURE A major overhaul of policy and practices needed to ensure students’ safety in schools

A student was found murdered in Ranchi. A student drowned in a swimming pool at Bhopal. Such incidents are happening everywhere... But it happens more so in private schools because of a lack of vigilance
PRIYANK KANOONGO, member of RTE and NCPCR

Just one or even ten cameras are not sufficient. At Bal Bharti Public School in Pitampura, we have 300 such cameras in every corner of the school. But how many schools will actually be able to afford it?
K BHATTACHARYA, Secretary, Bal Bharati Public School, New Delhi

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) issued a notice to all affiliated schools this week enlisting guidelines to ensure a child’s safety on school premises. A day later, LieutenantGovernor Anil Baijal directed the Delhi government to make security measures mandatory and linked the rules to schools being recognised. He also asked the Delhi Police to waive verification charges so that schools are incentivised to do background checks on their staff.

The problem is that these moves were precipitated by the murder of a sevenyear-old student in a private school in Gurgaon and the rape of another toddler at a school in Delhi’s Gandhinagar. Such reactionary responses seem to be the standard modus operandi in most cases.

INVOLVE PARENTS 

Priyank Kanoongo, member-RTE and Education at National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), said that such incidents were not endemic to any particular region but indicated a “national crisis”.
“A student was found murdered in Ranchi. A student drowned in a swimming pool at Bhopal. Such incidents are happening everywhere, in urban and rural schools. But it happens more so in private schools because there is a lack of vigilance,” said Kanoongo.

A major reason for this, according to him, is a lack of parents’ intervention in private schools, affecting accountability.

“Under the RTE, the formation of a School Management Committee (SMC) is mandated for government schools, but private schools are exempted. This means that around 73% of schools in India have SMCs, while others don’t. And most of schools that do not have SMCs are private schools,” he said.

But in the wake of recent incidents, many schools are involving parents in committees set up to improve security. “We have time and again taken suggestions from parents on security but of late, parents are still anxious so we have decided to include some parents in our security committee. Many have agreed to even visit the school on a regular basis to ensure security is in place and we have agreed to come to a conclusion on the same,” said Rohan Bhat, principal of Children’s Academy in Mumbai’s Malad.

TIGHTENING PROTOCOL 

The CBSE guidelines have asked schools to restrict access to their buildings and monitor any visitors.
Schools in Ludhiana, such as the BCM Arya Model Senior Secondary School and the local branch of Ryan International School, have started issuing ID cards to parents.

“We do not let our students leave unless it is with a person holding a valid parent ID card, or with people who have been authorised by the parents,” said SK Bhattacharya, secretary of Delhi’s Bal Bharati Public School and president of the School Action Committee.

One of the directives and suggestions that have come from most law enforcement agencies is verification of staff to check for criminal records.

Police sources said the suspect in the murder of the student at the Gurgaon branch of Ryan International School was hired without verification. Investigations suggested the suspect, Ashok Kumar, was fired from his previous job at a private school in his village Ghamroj because of suspicious behaviour.

FIXING SURVEILLANCE 

The CBSE guidelines include a direction to ensure vulnerable and isolated parts of a school are monitored constantly by closed-circuit television (CCTV) cameras, but officials believe it is easier said than done.
“Just one or even ten cameras are not sufficient. At Bal Bharti Public School in Pitampura, we have 300 such cameras in every corner of the school. But how many schools will actually be able to afford it?” asked Bhattacharya.

CCTV by itself may not be sufficient since instances of abuse, such as the Ryan murder, take place in areas that are in surveillance blind spots, such as toilets. Parents in many schools have sought attendants in toilets for safety of children.

In addition to security on campus, concerns also relate to when children are in school buses. Some of the suggestions in this regard include the hiring a female staffer who will be on a school vehicle at all times. The added expense of an extra staffer, could however, be a deterrent. School’s like Bal Bharti have figured a way out. “We are actually looking at getting female conductors. So we will be able to do with one staff instead of the two,” Bhattacharya said.

WAY FORWARD 

Though these measures are expected to provide immediate relief, a major overhaul of policy and everyday practices maybe required to ensure long term safety of students.

“One of the first things is to get parents more involved in the school. Principals also need to be empowered in management because they are usually more sensitive to the issues. Teachers are the best medium to reach students and hence they need to be properly trained and sensitised,” said Kanoongo of NCPCR. Monitoring remains crucial. “District education officers need to be empowered and given access to private schools as well,” he added.

  Source: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

• 14 Sep 2017  | Mumbai  | Neelam Pandey neelam.pandey.hindustantimes.com

Safety of kids is duty of schools, says CBSE

THE CIRCULAR COMES FIVE DAYS AFTER AN EIGHT­YEAR­OLD BOY WAS FOUND DEAD NEAR THE TOILET OF RYAN INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

onus of safety and security of children in school campus lies solely upon school authorities, the CBSE said in a circular related to safety of students on Wednesday.

The circular comes five days after an eight-year-old boy was found dead with his throat slit near the toilet of Ryan Internation School, Bhondsi.

“It is a fundamental right of a child to engage and study in an environment where he/she feels safe and is free from any form of physical or emotional abuse or harassment,” the CBSE said in its circular. The circular issued also says that schools affiliated to the CBSE need to get a “psychometric evaluation” of their teachers and staff done by professional psychologists within two months and send an action taken report.

The CBSE, at the same time, has also asked schools to adhere to existing guidelines that were issued by the board and the Union Human Resources Development ministry in 2014. In the circular, CBSE has also directed schools to get a “security and safety audit” of their premises and all employees from their respective local police stations within a period of two months. “Such verification and evaluation for non-teaching staff such as, bus drivers, conductors, peon and other support staff may be done very carefully and in a detailed manner. This may be complied and reported online on CBSE website within two months,” the board said, threatening punitive action against those failing to comply. There are more than 18000 CBSE affiliated schools in the country including Kendriaya Vidayalayas and Jawahar Navodaya Vidayalayas.

“The access to school building by outsiders should be controlled and visitors monitored,” the circular said. “Any violation or lapses with regard to safety of children campus would invite action,” CBSE deputy secretary Jaiprakash Chaturvedi said.

Source: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

Sep 14 2017 : The Times of India (NaviMumbai)

CBSE orders psychometric test on staff at all its schools after murder at Ryan

Sumaiya Yousuf  | Bhopal





Breaking its silence five days after the murder of a child at Ryan International School in Gurugram, the CBSE on Wednesday announced that the onus of safety of students on campus lies solely with school authorities.

 

The CBSE said this in response to a Supreme Court query in the aftermath of the Gurugram school murder.

On Wednesday, the board sent a circular on `safety of children' to its affiliated schools, giving them two months to complete psychometric evaluation of all staff --teachers, non-teaching employees, sweepers, bus drivers and conductors included. “Owing to increasing incidents involving safety and well-being of school children, the onus for safety and security of children on campus shall solely lie upon the school authorities,“ says the circular, adding: “It is the fundamental right of a child to engage and study in an environment where heshe feels safe and is free from any form of physical or emotional abuse or harassment.“

The official word from CBSE will assuage parents jolted by the Ryan School murder. What may prove tough for schools is the mandatory psychometric evaluation. “Schools must get psychometric evaluation done for all the staff employed.Such verification and evaluation for non-teaching staff -such as bus drivers, conductors, peons and other support staff -may be done very carefully and in a detailed manner,“ the CBSE said.
Deputy secretary (affiliation) Jaiprakash Chaturvedi has asked schools to strive to promote better understanding among teachers and staff on “laws protecting the safety, security and interests of students“. The latest rules require all schools to devise means to “take immediate remedial and punitive action against such violations.“

“Staff members should also be educated to recognize their protective obligation toward students and ensure safety and well-being of children in schools,“ the circular says.

Khattar considering CBI probe: Paswan

Demanding a thorough probe into the killing of a seven-year-old student of Ryan International School in Gurgaon, Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Wednesday that he had talked to Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar, who told Paswan he would seriously consider handing over the investigation to CBI. TNN

Probe shows Ryan violated security norms

Police probing the Ryan International case reported several irregularities in the implementation of guidelines issued by the CBSE, the Haryana government and the SC, that relate to student safety and security, before the Sohna court on Wednesday. Police also said the amount spent on safety and security of children by the Bhondsi branch of the school were, going by the guidelines, insufficient. The public prosecutor said some documents, including a proposal by the principal to improve the school branch's security, had been recovered. Branch officials claimed they had forwarded it to their head office, though cops are yet to verify whether it was actually received in Mumbai, or what action was taken on it. “The bus conductor remains the prime accused...we're trying to widen the probe and dig out financial and institutional documents,“ said a police official. TNN





Source : http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31840&articlexml=CBSE-orders-psychometric-test-on-staff-at-all-14092017010056#

Sep 12 2017 : The Times of India (NaviMumbai)

A Scholarship For Everyone

Geeta Gandhi Kingdon

Why school vouchers are the best way to give India's children access to quality education

The Times of India has launched a generous scholarship for 400 students to access quality higher education “to nurture the next genera tion of APJ Abdul Kalams“. Laudable as such benefactions are, to achieve scale against our teeming population young people's opportunity to access good education and achieve their potential should not depend on philanthropy , but be the duty of a responsible and just government.

 

The way of giving government funding can alter the fortunes of India's children. Specifically , direct benefit transfer (DBT) or school voucher to parents would be a scholarship to every eligible child, enabling himher to attend any school of their choice whose fee is upto the monetary value specified on the voucher.

Equally importantly , voucher funding would make India's lax government schools and teachers more accountable by linking a school's funding (and thus teacher salaries) to its ability to attract and retain children.

Under the current funding structure, far from retaining children, government elementary schools have been emptying at an alarming rate: official DISE data show that between 2011 and 2016, total enrolment in government schools fell by 13 million and that in private schools rose by 17.5 million. This exodus has rendered many government schools pedagogically and economically unviable, with 40% of all government schools now having fewer than 50 students in total! Under DBT, the government gives a voucher ­ a promissory note ­ of a given monetary value, to the parent of each eligible child. If the voucher is fixed at, say, Rs 500 per month, the parent can admit their child in any school that charges fees up to that amount, but she can also supplement the voucher from her own pocket to avail a higher fee school, if she so wishes. Parents can choose any type of institution, ie private, aided or government school.

Many countries have used school vouchers to good effect, eg Colombia, Chile, the Netherlands, New Zealand, US, etc. Under a universal DBT scheme, all children are eligible for a school voucher, while under a targeted scheme, only designated groups would be eligible, eg children of `economically weaker sections'.
This kind of public scholarship to children is a radically different way of funding education. Presently government grant goes directly to schools, but under a voucher scheme it would go indirectly to schools via parents. Secondly , vouchers represent a per-student grant to schools, rather than the current `block grant' whereby each government-funded school gets a lump sum (usually equal to its total teacher-salary bill) irrespective of the number of children in the school ­ which is a major cause of inefficiency .

The power of vouchers is that a voucher-bearing parent, like a fee-paying parent, can hold the school accountable because she has the power to deprive the school of its revenue by taking her child (and thus the voucher) away to a different school, if she is dissatisfied with the quality effort of a school. Under voucher funding, schools are compelled to compete with each other to attract children, and thus have to give good results.

A voucher scheme can also be made an agent of greater equity in education, with the voucher value being set inverse to family income, ie with poorer children getting higher value vouchers, instead of a uniform voucher value for all children.

The government has two main objections to DBT in education. The first is its belief that in backward rural areas private schools will not come up, even with the lure of government voucher funding.However, this fear is unfounded. National Sample Survey data 2014-15 show that median fee in private unaided elementary schools was Rs 292 pm in rural and Rs 542 pm in urban India, and that 25% children in unaided schools of India paid a `total course fee' of less than Rs 200 pm (57% paid less than Rs 500 pm, 82% paid less than Rs 1,000 pm and a mere 3.6% paid more than Rs 2,500 pm). Given that 25% private school managers charge less than Rs 200 pm, even a relatively low value voucher of Rs 500 pm will represent untold riches in remote rural areas, and is likely to produce a strong supply-side response.

MHRD's second problem with DBT funding of schools is that the many emptying government schools ­ with their few enrolled students ­ would get too little revenue under voucher funding to pay their current teachers. Here, the central government and many state governments are already contemplating school `consolidation', ie merging the tiny government schools with bigger government schools nearby , and redeploying teachers from underenrolled to over-enrolled schools.

While in the transition phase there may be a glut of teachers to be paid above the voucher revenue, with natural wastage (retirement), the problem will disappear over time. Another solution may be to set a different voucher amount for government schools and a different one for private schools since government schools' per pupil expenditure in 2017-18 is around Rs 2,500 pm in primary and Rs 3,300 pm in upper-primary classes (see Tamil Nadu's July 2017 gazette), which is several times the median private school fee level.
Knotty problems require bold solutions. Tinkering at the edges of the system is simply not going to improve the quality of schooling, nor will the provision of good inputs (infrastructure and trained staff) do the job. The elephant in the room is school and teacher accountability , and DBT voucher funding tackles that while also providing a scholarship to all the children of India.

 (The writer is Chair of Education Economics, University College, London)

Source : http://epaperbeta.timesofindia.com/Article.aspx?eid=31840&articlexml=A-Scholarship-For-Everyone-12092017014032#

JEE, NEET cannot gauge aptitude

Standardised tests eliminate the need for many exams, but these are arbitrary and opaque

SAnitha, who has reportedly committed suicide recently, had failed to make it through NEET (National Entrance-cum-Eligibility Test), an exam now taken nationally to decide who can study medicine and who can’t. NEET is conducted by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). Anitha who had scored exceptionally well in her Class XII exam of Tamil Nadu (TN) Board, failed to perform well in NEET. The state government had tried to resist NEET, and for a year it succeeded in providing TN students an exemption from NEET.

Following Anitha’s death, protests against NEET have been held in Chennai. Anitha, a daily-wage labourer’s daughter, apparently thought that her hard work at school would let her move on in life. She had even approached the court and argued that she couldn’t afford coaching.

Her story reminds us how exhausting and irrational our selection procedures are. In principle, NEET is a good idea as it makes multiple state-wise tests unnecessary. But conducting a professionally competent NEET is nothing less than a fantasy today. No institution has the capacity to standardise a test to make it fair and suitable for a country as diverse as India. Translation of items into different languages itself poses a formidable challenge.

CBSE is unfairly burdened with carrying out a mind-boggling variety of tests all year round. It is widely believed that CBSE is tougher than state boards; no one knows what that means. Basically, all entrance tests now serve to eliminate. NEET doesn’t test aptitude for medicine; nor does the joint entrance test (JEE) judge a student’s potential for engineering.

There is little we can do to examine the validity of any exam today, including these mega tests like NEET and JEE. The mantras of transparency and accountability have made no impact on the exam machinery. In fact, people think that applying accountability to exams would dilute standards. So, all Boards maintain silence over how they evaluate answer sheets.

Entrance tests are usually based on multiple-choice questions whose quality is mostly so poor that only someone coached in cramming can crack them. Questions in board exams require short answers. They are judged against model answers given to evaluators.

A few years ago, CBSE had introduced a procedure for seeking re-evaluation. This year, when a political science student applied for re-evaluation, she was told that the provision had recently been withdrawn. When she went to court and sought her answer sheet, it revealed how she had been marked. Here are two examples.

A one-mark question was: “How far do you agree with the statement that cultural globalisation is dangerous not only for poor countries for the entire globe?” Her answer was: “I do not agree with this statement as cultural globalisation leads to enhanced cultures with newer combinations arising from external influences, cultural heterogenisation and greater influence of all cultures.”

She was given zero for this answer. The model or ‘correct’ answer used by evaluators was: “Yes, Cultural globalisation does lead to cultural homogenisation which affects all countries as it causes shrinkage of the rich and diverse cultural heritage of the entire globe”. If you compare the two, you will conclude that the girl was punished for her creativity.

But in this case, her answer was closer to what the textbook, ‘Contemporary World Politics’ (Chapter 9, p. 143), says: “It would be a mistake to assume that cultural consequences of globalisation are only negative. Cultures are not static things and all cultures accept outside influences all the time… Sometimes external influences simply enlarge our choices, sometimes they modify our culture without overwhelming the traditional.”

In many other questions, she loses marks because her answer is slightly longer than the desired answer or differently worded. But there are answers where she is spot on, and still loses marks.

For instance, in analysing the biggest constraints on American hegemony, a 6-mark question, the desired answer mentions the ‘institutionalised architecture’ of the American state based on the division of power, free press and NATO. The candidate mentions all three, but uses words like ‘engineering of the government’ instead ‘architecture of the state’. For such difference of vocabulary, she gets three out of six. Clearly, she was expected to cram the exact words from some exam guide.

This is just one example exhibiting the arbitrary and opaque nature of our exam system. Much has changed in India since the late 19th century when the public exam system was put in place. Minor reforms have occurred, but its core remains solidly opaque.


12 Sep 2017 | Mumbai | Krishna Kumar is former director, NCERT The views expressed by the author are personal KRishNA KUMAR

Source: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

• 12 Sep 2017 | Mumbai | Neelam Pandey neelam.pandey@hindustantimes.com

NCERT devises new test to help kids opt for suitable stream 

 

NEWDELHI: The National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has developed a test to identify the potential and inherent abilities of children to help them zero in on the streams they should opt for in higher classes.

The council’s department of psychology and foundation of education is finalising the norms for the test, to be taken in Class 9, and is already conducting trial runs at regional institutes.

NCERT director Hrushikesh Senapaty confirmed they were working on such a test, and it will be implemented soon.

“We should not call this a test, because tests put an unnecessary burden on students. This is more about judging your aptitude. Though some students with problem-solving skills may excel in mathematics, that’s not to say they won’t do well in English. But this exercise will help them discover the techniques they already posses. This is no textbook-based test. It will check the perceptive ability and mechanical reasoning of students, among other factors,” said a senior NCERT official, on the condition of anonymity. 

Officials said the test will be made available to students at the individual-level too, at a later stage. The exercise will be divided into verbal and non-verbal sections, and possess seven sub-tests. Besides testing the verbal, mechanical, abstract, spatial and perceptive rationale of the child, it will use diagrams and figures to assess his/her reasoning abilities. “Students, for instance, will be given a pattern and asked to find out how it will shape up through various steps taken in accordance with logic. As far as verbal reasoning is concerned, they will be initially assessed on the basis of language – from synonyms and meanings of proverbs to overall aptitude,” the official said. The test will focus on job-related abilities too, he added. 

 

The test module is being tested at regional institutes of the NCERT, including Kendriya Vidyalayas.

Sources said the council has already held discussions with the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), so it can be implemented in affiliated schools. “We will provide the CBSE with all the tools and materials for the test, so it can be conducted at the convenience of its schools. We should be able to finish preparing it by the end of this year, so it can be put to use from 2018,” said another NCERT official. “Norms for the test are being finalised and tested. Though it has not been conceptualised as an online test so far, we hope to achieve that too. The test will run for 1.30 hours,” the official said, adding that the exercise will act as an “additional tool” aimed at helping students make the right choice.

Other states are welcome to approach the NCERT if they also wish to make use of the test.

Source: http://paper.hindustantimes.com/epaper/viewer.aspx

Blue Whale: CBSE asks schools to instal firewalls

Tanushree Bhatia | Updated: Sep 6, 2017, 08:15 AM IST, DNA

 

Advisory comes after rise in cases of students falling prey to the online game

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: http://www.dnaindia.com/ahmedabad/report-blue-whale-cbse-asks-schools-to-instal-firewalls-2543307