India’s education sector is rapidly digitising, but the infrastructure to keep students safe online has not kept pace. While millions of students access the internet for learning, social interaction, and entertainment, most schools still lack a structured curriculum on digital safety.
The absence of a formal framework leaves young users exposed to cyberbullying, scams, grooming, and misinformation—often without knowing how to respond or seek help.
Current Gaps in India’s Approach
Despite some references in NCERT’s ICT curriculum and occasional awareness sessions by law enforcement or NGOs, there is no national mandate to teach digital safety in a structured, consistent manner.
The key shortcomings include:
- Lack of age-appropriate content: Most content is generic, not adapted to different student age groups.
- No practical training: Students are rarely taught how to detect phishing, adjust privacy settings, or respond to harassment.
- Untrained teachers: Few educators receive formal training in cybersecurity or online risk management.
- Minimal parental engagement: Parents often lack resources to support safe digital habits at home.
- No focus on mental health: Screen addiction, social media anxiety, and online peer pressure are overlooked.
- Poor legal awareness: Students are unaware of online offences and their legal rights under the IT Act or cybercrime laws.
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Why This Gap Matters
India’s student population is one of the largest and youngest in the world. A significant portion of these users access the internet via mobile devices, often unsupervised. Without early intervention, students remain vulnerable to:
- Cybercrime (phishing, sextortion, identity theft)
- Exposure to misinformation and harmful content
- Online radicalisation and recruitment into illegal activities
- Exploitation through manipulative design or addictive algorithms
Failure to equip students with basic digital safety skills increases long-term risks not just for individuals, but also for the security and resilience of the wider digital ecosystem.
Recommendations for a National Approach
To address the growing gap between digital access and digital safety, the following steps are essential:
- Integrate a mandatory digital safety module into the school curriculum at all levels, aligned with NEP 2020 goals.
- Develop structured, multilingual, and age-specific content, with inputs from cybersecurity experts, child psychologists, and legal professionals.
- Train teachers through certified modules in collaboration with government bodies, EdTech firms, and academic institutions.
- Launch parent awareness campaigns through schools and local governance bodies.
- Embed digital legal literacy and rights awareness within civic and IT education.
- Include digital well-being and mental health content, with practical exercises and peer-led support mechanisms.
Final Thoughts
The internet is now central to education, communication, and social development. As India embraces digital transformation across sectors, ensuring that students are equipped to engage safely and responsibly online is not optional—it is foundational.
A national digital safety curriculum is no longer a future requirement. It is an immediate need.