Once every month, students of classes 6 and above in schools in Delhi will have sessions and activities on the prevention of cybercrimes through a government programme looking to make them ‘cyber warriors’.
This school programme is part of the Union home ministry’s scheme ‘Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C)’ under which the first Wednesday of every month is to be observed as ‘Cyber Jagrookta Divas’.
The education department has laid out monthly activities from November to February including workshops, seminars, quizzes and creative sessions. For students of classes 6 to 10, the themes to be covered are introduction to cybercrimes, kinds of cybercrimes, spotting fake news and fake apps on social media and the internet, internet ethics, ATM scams, online shopping threats, mobile apps security, mobile connectivity security attacks and preventive measures.
For classes 11 and 12, the themes are cybercrimes and safety, cyber hygiene in daily life, introduction to social networks and electronic payments and safeguards. According to a letter by Union home secretary Ajay Bhalla to chief secretaries of all states on this, “there is a pressing need to increase ‘cyber hygiene’ for prevention of cybercrimes” owing to “the exponential increase in the number of internet user (sic) on social media platforms in India, and the rapidly evolving technologies which have also brought unique challenges”.
