School under the Delhi Government, the city’s cantonment board and NDMC will soon get lessons on the ‘responsible use of social media’. Over seven lakh students studying in these schools will be made aware of how much information should be shared online and how to deal with cyber threats.

As many as 1,040 schools are selected where this month-long series of online sessions will be conducted and is scheduled to begin from November 23.

As a result of increased usage of social media and high exposure to gadgets amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the lessons are to be conducted.

Deputy Director of Education, Mohinder Pal said the series will create awareness about the various threats on the internet and also ways to secure oneself from these threats.

‘Threat through the unknown and anonymous cyber world is a harsh reality nowadays. Ease of access and unmonitored reach has exposed the children to unscrupulous elements on the net,’ said Pal.

He also added that the children will also be sensitised about the responsible use of social media.

A total of 52 online sessions will be held for addressing 7.3 lakh students from classes 9 to 12 of 13 districts (136 clusters) in Delhi. The students will be mentored on how to be digitally smart.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the nationwide lockdown was imposed in March following which all the learning activities were moved online to avoid any disruption.

In order to promote the safe, legal and ethical use of the internet by students a detailed guideline was sent by The National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT) defining the role of the parents and teachers in the whole process.

According to a Hindustan Times report, the guidelines suggested allowing only authorised people to access the computer labs, banning the use of USBs, blocking pop-ups and keeping a check on the appearance of new and unfamiliar icons on the desktop.

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