BENGALURU: The Karnataka government on Monday released the draft policy for responsible digital use among students, suggesting that each school frame and enforce a digital use policy in addition to constituting a Digital Wellness Committee. The policy recommends limiting recreational screen time to not more than 1 hour per day outside of schoolwork and introducing tech curfew -- all screens off one hour before bedtime.
The draft policy follows Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s budget announcement on March 6 that the government will ban social media use for children below 16.
The policy has been drafted by involving the Health and Family Welfare department, National Institute of Mental Health and Sciences (NIMHANS), department of education, 60 professionals from education institutions and university representatives, parent representatives and cyber crime department.
‘Training teachers will help identify red flags on tech overuse’
Under the policy, which has to be compulsorily implemented, schools have to come up with protocols against cyberbullying or digital misconduct and list out the role of teachers in moderating digital exposure and counselling students on safe digital use. It suggested that a national digital health mission should be created to monitor and provide framework for healthy use of technology and encourage schools to adopt traditional methods of communication instead of direct WhatsApp contact with students, and implement a ‘Diary system’ for communication.
With the digital wellness committee -- which will include principal or vice-principal, counsellor or mental health professional, designated teachers, parent representative, student representative and cyber crime police officers — schools are advised to collaborate with digital technology and media industries for ethical content development, and a certified age limit for digital media use.
The police suggested developing age-appropriate phones/devices for children and OS updates for devices as they grow older and developing a special ‘child plan’ for phones with audio-only options and stopping data use by 7 pm.
Schools are expected to maintain a confidential log of referrals to the counsellor and ensure that cases of cyberbullying or online harm are addressed with urgency and care. Students are encouraged to report any threatening or suspicious online behaviour to a trusted adult or school counsellor. The policy encourages creating awareness among children to reach out to Tele Manas -14416 for counselling.
The policy is not limited to schools, but can be embedded into teachers’ training programmes for digital detox. Training teachers will help identify red flags on tech overuse among students. The training for teachers can be organised by schools inviting experts from NIMHANS, it suggested.
Parents are advised to facilitate more peer interactions and conversations without screens via offline play, group reading sessions etc. Parents must be educated to talk regularly about who their children interact with online, what apps or platforms they use, the importance of not sharing photos and other important details.
Before introducing technology to a child, parents must set a timer, a profile for kids to use, and review the content regularly, it suggested. The draft policy has been uploaded on the health department’s official website, inviting public opinion.