IF THE MASTER ERRED IN ONE LETTER

 22. IF THE MASTER ERRED IN ONE LETTER

He appeared crestfallen. Normally he was high spirited and animated in his disposition. Sparkling in his wit always, he was pleasant company for conversation. Time flies in his presence and no one will notice. Why like this today?

Perhaps reading my mind, he said, without any preliminaries: ‘My daughter. . . ’

Was he sobbing? It took some time for him to compose himself and then he opened up. ‘ I am really worried about her future. Will she do something drastic because of the shame?’ He began to weep uncontrollably.

I tried to console him. She did not do anything wrong wilfully. It so happened to her.

His daughter had been sent to a good college in a neighbouring state. She was admitted to a hostel, but after some time she felt that the restrictions at the hostel were rather harsh. So along with two roommates she took up a flat on rent. The good accommodation was arranged by a co-student.

It was much later that the girls realized that there was a hidden camera behind the tubelight. They flared up and took up the matter with the flat owner. But his attitude changed suddenly. He scared the hell out of the girls, showing them what all the camera had copied and whatever had been added extra from the computer. The girls were shell shocked.

Some portions of the captured and morphed shots were also circulated in the college.

What is to be done now? The father was in a quandary. Fortunately, the problem could be solved without much further damage. The girl was quietly transferred to another college in another state, a college run by nuns.

But was the problem solved once and for all? Indeed,, it was not something confined to one place. Also, the new issues thrown up by information technology cannot be dismissed as simple or trivial.

It appears as if the problems like the one mentioned above are spreading in our campuses like wild fire. It is therefore only natural to be worried about this as what begins as a minor prank may in course of time assume the proportion of a major crime. Indications are that a new villain named Cyber Crime has firmly entrenched himself in our educational institutions.

Utmost caution is needed even in discussions on cyber crime. Perhaps there may be a teen- aged boy or girl who takes to cyber crime taking a cue from such discussion. The situation today is such that with a mobile phone and a computer one can harass, torment or even wreck the life of anyone.

Multitudes are the ways in which the new gadgets can be put to use for illegal purposes. For instance, there is a cyber way to copying in examinations: messages, both SMS and MMS, can be transmitted from and to examination halls. Pictures or video of girl students in the class and woman teachers can be taken without their knowledge. And with the aid of a computer they can be morphed with other objectionable material to be circulated in the campus to humiliate the victims. Till they are caught by the Principal, those indulging in this sadistic pastime can enjoy hell of a time in the campus with their supposed pranks and little bit of blackmailing. What they forget is the shame, mortification and suffering they cause to their hapless victims.

It was when principals and teachers were contacted that the seriousness of the issue came to light. One principal, a disciplinarian, said without mincing of words: ‘They are not students. They are criminals. No leniency should be shown to them. ’ Others took a slightly different stand. ‘After all, hadn’t we committed similar pranks when we were students? Then also our elders were annoyed and unhappy. ’ There was truth in what they said. I remembered the case of a very senior official. In his student days what all mischief had he done! Stealing a priest’s cassock, he would leave the hostel and go to the church’s farm, get a worker to pluck coconuts from the palm and cut plantain. Since he was in a priest’s attire no one suspected foul play. Finally the ‘priest’ was caught and reprimanded. At that time everyone had considered this as a crime. But thinking of it now, it could only be smiled away as a prank.

True, today’s crime may look like a prank tomorrow. But can we dismiss the cyber crimes lightly as pranks?

Some smart boys try to make some financial gains with the aid of the computer. Find out the details of the credit cards of others, and use the information for online purchases. They begin by stealing information from the credit cards of their father or brother, then graduate to such a level as to make them bold enough to steal credit card information of others. Finally when musclemen engaged by credit card companies zero in on the boys, the matter gets out of control. The family comes to know of the goings on, the police intervene and the cyber heroes find themselves with their backs to the wall. It would be wth hell of a lot of effort by the family and the principal that prankster turned criminals are kept out of the police net.

There are some super intelligent people who do mischief as a prank. They create a virus to sneak into computers connected to the internet and steal others’ files.

No one would deny that there was an imperative need to put an end to cyber crimes. But in the campus the question is who will bell the cat? There is an old saying is a thorn can best be removed with the help of another thorn. Simailarly, cyber crimes can be put to an end in the campus with the help of the student community. If not a full stop, at least semi-colon can be put if the students chose to do so.

As Principal Secretary, Higher Education, there was once an opportunity for this author to interact with the students of Kerala’s educational institutions. It was heartening to note that they had clear and well thought out views on the matter. They expressed indignation over the manner in which foreign commercial-marketing culture was making deep inroads into our cultural milieu. They cited the no holds barred promotion of gadgets like mobile phones and computers. Divergent political views in this regard did not deter the student comminity from expressing their common perceptions.

There were certain questions that the students, in general, asked the government. Who is preventing enforcement of the information technology law. Not the students, anyway. Whose responsibility is it to inspect and control the functioning of internet cafes operating near educational institutions? Why is it that the police set up is not being made competent to detect and deal with cyber crimes?

They have questions for the teachers as well. Can’t the institutions be asked to ensure that the monitors of the internet - connected computers can be viewed by all? Will not such a step help, at least within the campus, to limit access to unsavoury sites? While it may be impractical to ban the use of mobile phones in the campus, can’t it be ensured that they are banned within class rooms? Why should they be permitted in the examination halls? What is the difficulty to bar camera phones from the campus? Also why not make use of the software that prevents entry to unsavory sites?

As an official in charge of higher education, I was forced to do an introspection. What is wrong with the students’ questions? Are not they logical? These questions do need appropriate answers at the earliest. Earlier the better as any delay is bound to make them huge and unmanageable. As the saying goes, a stitch in time saves nine.

Let us assume these questions by students can be answered somehow or the other. But one of their observations remains with the shattering force of a tsunami. That the real perpetrators of the campus cyber crimes and their sinister users are teachers themselves.

True? Well, one can’t be sure. But what if true? May be students get the teachers they deserve.