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Toolkit To Protect Data In Schools

14th January 2022

Educational Administration and Management courses in Malaysia have been revamped to suit the latest approaches of managing educational institutions. The Educational Administration and Management courses are not only designed to study the structure and dynamics but also with the whole virtual learning going in full flow, handling data breach has now become a value addition.

At the onset of virtual teaching and learning in the early phases of the lockdown following the pandemic, the schools were struggling to keep the classes as objective driven as possible. The teachers were under immense pressure to educated themselves with the new platform to teach while the administration was under a constant struggle to keep the smooth running of the school in continuum.

Fully operational virtual platforms like Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, WebEx, Zoom Meetings, Click Meeting, etc., have made the shift possible. However, soon there were a lot of downsides to these new designs. One of the major problems was the breach of data in school. Data protection was anticipated; however, it was still at its nascent stage or the thought was yet to get ideated.

Consequently, there would be concerns among authorities and school councils as to understand the nature of this issue and solve it at the earliest. The id and passwords were volatile enough and easily traceable. That would lead data pirates to get access to a classroom full of young learners/school goers and create obscene and outrageous distractions. At the same time the learning management systems (LMS) would be hacked to get vital information. One led to another.

With that being said, data protection is yet to be learnt by majority of the administrators.

In simple words, learn how to be the good gatekeeper! Keep compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation. Learn the crux and aspects laid out in the Data Protection Act (2018) that harps on the efficient strategies that can be adopted to ensure a robust data protection policy for your school and avoid unprecedented breaches. It is hard and requires a lot of research and paperwork. But it is worth it!

Here is the toolkit to that data walk:

1. Printers and photocopiers check: Now this one is perhaps the easiest one to start with. If the printers and photocopy machines are shared and it can be accessed only at a designated place in the premises, make sure to have the constant awareness among the users that they must take the original document back with them.

This is a simple one, however, this still needs to be habituated and communicated. Teachers work from home but a few schools want their teachers to work virtually from the school campus. At the same time, not only the teachers’ documents but also important and confidential papers are also manhandled from this particular spot.

2. Screens and monitors check: How well are you aware of your work environment? Did you know that a 1-inch tall text in a standard font and size can be viewed even from 10 metres away? Administrative cubicles or cabins, bursar’s office and the SLT offices are the inaccessible areas.

However, most of the information is leaked from these areas. Do you think the screens and monitors can easily be viewed from the surrounding areas of the office? What other common mistakes in the infrastructures might lead to such data breaches?

3. Physical security of documents checks: Data collection sheets, admission forms, medical records, staff records, revenue papers, legal records, job applications, etc, are sensitive data that the school admins should handle with care and confidentiality. They must be kept under lock and key when not in use. As for the date uploaded online in on the school administrative portals, make sure that the security is updated and is under constant scrutiny.

Lastly, there is no little need to be told about cyber security now. A lot has been witnessed in the past two years. The concept of flipped and blended education has made the use of cyber space for data storing is now a norm.

Education administrators must undergo trainings to handle these security breaches and safeguard the sensitive information that can make or break the reputation of the school. Educational Administration and Management courses in Malaysia program can help! Secure school with cyber essentials certification and other programs that would help to design a continuous developmental cycle of information safeguarding.