November 17, 2020.
TED NewsDesk, New Delhi: The Delhi Government has recently launched unique classes on the ‘Responsible Use of Social Media’ for government school students in Delhi. Several students, parents, individuals across the country, voiced concerns regarding the side-effects of social media during the lockdown period.
The classes will last for a month and will cater to students from schools under the Delhi government, the cantonment board of Delhi, and NDMC. Currently, the government schools of Delhi have approximately 7 lakh students are likely to participate in the initiative.
What the initiative entails:
The special sessions will assist students in dealing with several aspects of social media. It will further elaborate on the quantity and quality of information that one should share on these sites to avoid cyber attacks. The Education Department, in its details, revealed that it is conducting the one-month online classes on ‘Responsible Use of Social Media’, for 1040 schools. The session will start on November 23. The initiative will cater to 7.3 lakh students from 9-12 grades of 13 districts in the UT through 52 special classes.
The reason behind the unique initiative:
“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 Mohinder Pal, Deputy Director of Education.
“The series on ‘Responsible use of Social Media’ will create awareness about the various kinds of threats on the internet and also ways to secure oneself from these threats. The children will also be sensitised about responsible use of social media,” he added.
The AAP government planned to add sessions on ‘Responsible Use of Social Media’ as an essential part of the usual learning methods, owing to the growing use of social sites by youngsters. The lockdown imposed due to the COVID-19 outbreak shifted almost everything from offline to online platforms. Following this, the students got even more exposed to social media and gadgets. As a result, the education department and the UT government realised the necessity to sensitise youth about the disadvantages of social networking.
People got locked in their homes due to the Coronavirus pandemic with the virus affecting our mental health as well as physical. Many people used online sources to build themselves up amid this lockdown. However, there are several of them who knowingly or unknowingly are suffering due to the demerits and dangers of social media sites. In times like these, such classes will enable students to differentiate between the proper and improper use of social media and gadgets.
Source: Jagran Josh
