Cyber Policy
Objective
In today’s world, technology is the need of the hour. As an educational institution, it is the school’s responsibility to provide Internet facilities and IT devices to ensure the best learning outcomes among the students. The school has the dual responsibility to maximize the benefits of these technologies, while at the same time to minimize and manage the risks of any unwanted activities. Thus, we need to have in place rigorous and effective school Cyber Safety practices which are directed and guided by this Cyber policy.
Our VISION is to build a secure cyberspace for students and faculty members.
Why Cyber Policy?
It is extremely important to protect information in cyberspace, be capable of preventing cyber threats, reduce vulnerabilities and minimize damage from cyber crime.
Cyber Policy
This policy applies whenever students and faculty members are using Laurel High-The School Information Technology equipment , services or resources, whether at school or at home.
Kindly adhere to the following mandatory guidelines:
- Students or faculty members must not eat/drink near the IT devices.
- They must respect school equipment and should not indulge in moving the IT equipment .
- They must not cause damage to any equipment. If they spot any damage, they must inform the HOD immediately
- They must not use pen drives or any other external media(cell phone, hard disk, CD, camera etc.) for saving or transferring any resource material.
- They must not install any new software without due permission from the computer faculty.
- Viewing social media sites for teaching learning ,registering on any website ,downloading any material must be done with due permission of the HOD.
- In the computer lab, Internet access is allowed only after permission from computer faculty and the computer faculty reserves the right to check or change the IDs of the users as and when required.
- Students are not allowed to bring equipment such as iPad, iPod, mobile phones etc. to the school.Any such equipment confiscated from the students will be kept in the school.
- Students must report incidents of Cyberbullying and misuse of IT resources to their teachers immediately.
What Happens If Any One Violates Cyber Policy Of Laurel High-the School?
Anyone who violates this policy will be subjected to the Behaviour Management Policy of LAUREL HIGH-THE SCHOOL
- Minor breaches by the students like installing new software, accessing the internet, bringing IT devices without prior permission of the concerned teacher will result in a suspension period of two weeks.
- Major breaches like cyber bullying, identity theft etc. will result in a suspension period of up to six weeks.
- If the Principal suspects an electronic crime has been committed, this will be reported to the Police Department.
- If there is a further reasonable suspicion that evidence of a crime is stored in a mobile phone or other electronic device such as laptop/PC etc., the device will be confiscated and handed to the investigating police officer. The Police will determine any further action.
- These actions may be taken even if the alleged incident occurs off-site and/or out of school hours.
Guidelines For Parents
- Place the computer in an open area in your home – not in your child’s bedroom.
- Be vigilant and keep a regular check on the usage and search history of your child.
- Install parental control software with content filtering settings.
- Learn Internet basics;lead by example and restrict time for internet usage.
- Be friendly with your children and discuss openly if you notice any changes in their mood or behavior.
- Make your children aware about Cyber bullying before it happens.
- Guide your children to block anyone who sends offensive content. Most social networking services allow users to block and report.
- Cyber bullying won’t stop if it’s ignored – you can help by listening to your child and working with them to take control of the situation.
GUIDELINES TO USE THE INTERNET SAFELY
- Don’t give out personal information such as your address or phone number.
- Don’t share passwords, debit/credit card details, user names, account IDs or PINS with anyone .
- Don’t leave the IT devices unattended with any stranger.
- Don’t open emails or attachments from people you don’t know.
- Don’t become online ‘friends’ with people you don’t know.
- Never fix an appointment with anyone whom you’ve met online.
- If you see anything troublesome that worries you, tell your parents/teachers about it.
- Never give out personal details in messenger or in personal profiles.
- Don’t send pictures to strangers. Be careful about who you share photos with.
- Change the settings of your profile using the social network’s privacy settings so only your friends can see your stuff.
- Posting embarrassing content or pictures on the internet can lead to trouble.
- Download and share content carefully.
Cyber Safety Awareness’ – An initiative by Cyber Crime Branch, Delhi Police
The Cyber Crime Cell of Delhi Police organizes workshops on ‘Cyber Safety Awareness’ in schools across Delhi. The workshop aims to share and to familiarize the teachers about a standardized cyber safety awareness module that has been prepared by the Cyber Cell of Economic Offences Wing of Delhi Police. It has been observed that school going children are more vulnerable to cyber offenses due to their inquisitiveness, curiosity and inadequate awareness about online threats and safe online habits.
Here are a few tips for parents by Cyber Crime Cell, Delhi Police to help them in sensitizing school going teenagers about cybercrime and how to be cyber smart.
- Do not replace physical parental supervision of computers used at home with any safe search engine or any other tool. No search filtering software or tool is perfect.
- Educate yourself also on social media safety and have open discussions with teens about present dangers and long term effects of inappropriate conduct, including posting pictures/videos online.
- Keep the computer in an open area. Make a rule that doors are always left open when kids are online. Advise your children to immediately exit any site that makes them feel uncomfortable or worried. Parents should keep a track of sites they are browsing. This is NOT invading their privacy at all, rather it is parenting in the digital space.
- If you find inappropriate content about your child on the internet, please contact the service provider concerned and/or Police as soon as possible. Majority of children would not like to tell their parents if they are bullied or harassed online for fear that they will lose internet access. Make sure that your children understand that they will not get into trouble if they tell you about a problem.
- Children under 13 are not allowed on Facebook, Instagram, SnapChat etc. Don’t support your child to break the rules as they are not the only ones without these accounts.
- Explain it to your child that all Social Networking Profiles MUST BE SET TO PRIVATE. Use all the security settings to make the site as safe as possible. Do not let young children browse ‘Google’ aimlessly with no supervision.
- Children need to be taught about search engines and how they work. Don’t allow your child to use Apps like SnapChat that immediately delete the posts. Such apps prevent you from monitoring the child’s online experience and you may never know what he is being subjected to. If you notice a sudden change in your child’s behavior, do check, among other things, his online activity on Facebook,Whatsapp,Instagram etc.