Dr Mary N Odyuo
Sovima, Nagaland
A few months ago, I recommended one of Nagaland's well-regarded inclusive schools to a neighbour whose son was developing at a slower pace than many children of his age and needed a little more academic support than a regular classroom could comfortably provide. The school is known for enabling children with diverse learning needs to study alongside their peers while receiving specialised assistance and I believed it would be the right environment for him.
A few weeks later, the child's mother called me, deeply distressed. A local social media influencer had visited the school, interacted with the children and uploaded videos online. Before long, the videos had spread across social media. Friends, relatives and acquaintances began calling the family, asking why her son was in that particular classroom and drawing their own conclusions about his developmental condition.
What troubled me was not that the child was studying in an inclusive classroom. Every child learns differently, and inclusive education exists to provide the support they need while preserving their confidence and dignity. What concerned me was that a private family decision had become a matter of public discussion because a video that should never have left the school was shared online.
That incident stayed with me. It highlighted a much larger issue: in an era where smartphones and social media are part of everyday life, children begin leaving digital footprints long before they understand their consequences. Schools therefore have a responsibility that extends beyond education, they must also safeguard children's privacy and dignity.
Today, schools frequently share photographs and videos of annual days, sports meet, classroom activities and student achievements on social media.These platforms help celebrate learning and strengthen engagement with parents and the community. Yet they also raise an important question: where should we draw the line between celebrating education and creating online content?
A classroom photograph or video may appear harmless but once uploaded it can be copied, shared, downloaded or remain online indefinitely.Children rarely understand what it means to have a permanent digital footprint or the long-term implications of having their images and personal information publicly available. The responsibility therefore rests with the adults who make those decisions on their behalf.
Parents entrust schools with the care, safety, and well-being of their children. Today, that trust extends into the digital world. As technology becomes an integral part of school life, our understanding of child protection must also evolve. Safeguarding children is no longer limited to protecting them from physical harm; it also requires respecting their privacy and ensuring they are not exposed to unnecessary or permanent online visibility. Unlike a school notice pinned to a board for a day or two, digital content can be copied, downloaded, edited and reshared countless times. Once it enters the online world, it is often impossible to take it back completely.
The Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 recognises children's identifiable photographs and videos as personal data requiring special care. The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has also emphasised through its guidelines that decisions involving children should uphold their dignity, privacy and best interests. These principles are also reflected in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), which recognises every child's right to privacy and requires that the child's best interests remain a primary consideration in decisions affecting them.
Perhaps the time has come to ask whether educational institutions need clearer digital media practices that balance celebration with responsibility. As schools increasingly document and share student activities, it is worth considering when photographs and videos should be taken, where they should be shared and who should have access to them. After all, celebrating learning should never come at the cost of a child's privacy or dignity.
Every photograph uploaded today becomes part of someone's lifelong digital story. Schools have always been places where children are nurtured, encouraged and protected. In the digital age, that responsibility extends beyond the classroom to the online world. Protecting children's digital footprints is not about limiting celebration. It is about ensuring that every child is remembered with the same dignity and care with which they are educated.
