Student privacy in the digital age: Why schools need stronger safeguards

Educational institutions begin collecting personal information even before a child enters the classroom. During admissions, they gather names, dates of birth, addresses, identity documents and contact information. As students progress through school, this expands to include attendance records, scores, health records, photographs, videos and participation in extracurricular activities.

As schools increasingly adopt digital platforms for learning and administration, the volume of student data being generated and processed has grown. Learning management systems, attendance apps, online examinations, digital report cards and parent communication platforms collect information to support teaching and school operations, adding to a child’s digital footprint.

Schools also use websites and social media to showcase classroom activities, competitions and academic achievements. While these updates help keep parents informed and celebrate student success, they also raise questions about how much personally identifiable information should be shared publicly and whether parents fully understand how it may be used or retained. The growing use of third-party edtech platforms has expanded the student data ecosystem.

Speaking to Business Standard, Ravindra Baviskar, Director, Sales Engineering, Sophos India & SAARC said that the gap between where educational institutions need to be and where they are today remains significant in terms of cybersecurity. More than 60 per cent of schools and colleges in India still lack a formal cybersecurity policy, while many EdTech platforms continue to rely on generic consent checkboxes that fall short of the verifiable parental consent required under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules.

Digital classrooms bring privacy challenges

As educational institutions become more connected, concerns around privacy are also becoming more complex. Unlike physical records stored within school premises, digital…

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