University Grants Commission (UGC) has notified all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) and Universities to encourage work on cybersecurity and awareness. The commission told universities to facilitate the academic fraternity to work on these topics and include them in the curriculum.
UGC also noted that the government was in the middle of creating a National Cyber Security Strategy. As such, it is imperative that education regarding the cyber world be given to students from the school level itself.
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UGC secretary Rajnish Jain wrote a letter directed to Vice Chancellors of all Universities in this regard. The letter mentioned that cyberspace was an increasingly complex space. It consists of interaction between services, software, and people which is further propped up by Information Communication Technology (ICT).
This space is highly critical to development. But as it stands, it is also very vulnerable;e to attacks and incidents, both accidental and intentional. As such, cyber security is now one of the prime focus of today's world.
Mr. Rajnish further said in his letter that since the government is also formulating a policy on this it has been decided by the authorities that cyber awareness should start from the school level. To that end, the incorporation of cyber awareness in the school syllabus is very important.
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Further, the topics would be increased progressively and include offensive and defensive aspects at higher education levels. The letter encourages the Universities to facilitate startups related to cyber security and conduct hackathons.
According to a report by the United Nations, people around the world are at an increased risk of cyber crimes as they spend more time on their mobiles. This includes cyber bullying, sexual exploitation, and online frauds. Children especially are at greater risk due to increased time for leisure due to the closing of schools.
To prevent such incidents, NCERT has also released some guidelines to schools and parents. This includes banning the use of USBs, allowing only authorized people in labs, keeping a check on new icons, and tracking mobile phone usage of children.
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