Pvt Schools in City Ditch Zoom Software over Security Concerns
Several private schools in the city on Friday said they have asked their teachers and students to avoid using the Zoom software for online classes or meetings, a fortnight after the ICSE schools' forum in the state urged them to conduct sessions on the platform.
Kolkata, Apr 17 (PTI) Several private schools in the city on Friday said they have asked their teachers and students to avoid using the Zoom software for online classes or meetings, a fortnight after the ICSE schools' forum in the state urged them to conduct sessions on the platform.
The Centre had on Thursday issued an advisory, flagging the video-conferencing software as unsafe and vulnerable to cyber crimes.
"We have come to know that inappropriate messages pop up during demonstrations, following which we cautioned the schools against the use of the Zoom application," Nabarun Dey, the general secretary of the Association of Head of ICSE Schools (Bengal Chapter), said.
He also noted that most schools have complied with the directive and shifted their session to another platform.
Dey, who is also the principal of Central Modern School in north Kolkata, said, "Our academic tutorials are being held on the school's portal, where students are submitting their work online for the teachers to evaluate."
A spokesman of Ashok Hall Group of Schools said the institute has moved to Google Hangout from Zoom, much before the advisory was issued.
At Vivekananda Mission School, on the southern fringes of the city, an official said, "We have all along been conducting online classes on Skype without any major hiccups."
IIT-Kharagpur Registrar B N Singh said faculty members and students were largely using DEEKSHAK (an IITKGP web- conferencing platform), G-Suite, among other platforms.
"We will certainly take note of the Centre's advisory. Everything will be done to ensure that privacy of our students and faculty members are not compromised with," he said. PTI
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