Facebook, Instagram of 3 Crore Students Will Be Tracked By Govt Via Linking With HRD Ministry

This can be described as one of the biggest surveillance activity in modern times, and this concerns students.

Govt. is working on a plan to link Facebook, Instagram and Twitter profiles of 3 crore students with the HRD Ministry, and their respective colleges/Universities.

Govt. has made it clear that this activity won’t be compulsory, but you never know!

Social Media Handles Of 3 Crore Students Will Be Linked With Govt?

As per reports coming in, HRD or Human Resource Development Ministry has ordered 40,000 colleges and 900 Universities to link the social media accounts of all 3 crore students with two entities: Social Media account of HRD and social media account of their respective colleges/Universities.

As per the official letter, this has been planned to inform the students about “good work done” done by the Govt. and the colleges.

However, we can define this as a massive surveillance activity.

What Did The Govt. Order?

As per the letter issued by HRD Ministry to all HEI or Higher Educational Institutions, this linking of students’ social media accounts will include Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, and it should be connected with the social media accounts of HRD and the college/University.

The letter said, “connect all the students’ Twitter/Facebook/Instagram accounts with the HEI’s Twitter/Facebook/Instagram accounts, as well as the MHRD’s Twitter/Facebook/Instagram accounts.”

Here is the letter which was issued by the HRD Ministry:

Source: The Quint

Is This A Massive Surveillance Activity?

As per some professors and teachers, this is a dangerous move, and can impact the students negatively.

For example, the Govt can create a persona and profile of every student, based on their social media activity, which can play havoc with the future of that student.

The data can be misused, and this can prove to be a major privacy issue in the future.

Ayesha Kidwai, Professor at JNU said, “This is ridiculous, and it is a clear attempt by the government at implementing surveillance on even the personal spaces of students”, 

A Social Media Champion or SMC has also be proposed, who will act as the social media manager for the institute, and ‘reshare/retweet’ the achievements of the colleges and the studnets.

Govt: This Won’t Be Compulsory

At the same time, the HRD Ministry has made it clear that this activity to link students’ social media profile with colleges and HRD Ministry will not be compulsory.

A spokesperson said, “This is only for sharing the good news. Anyone who understands how social media works would know that sharing of Twitter handles would not enable accessing the accounts. This is elementary knowledge.”

What do you think of this decision to monitor and track social media activities of the students? Do let us know by commenting right here!