Visakhapatnam Student IT Policy

Students of Oakridge International School, India (OIS) have access to the Internet, as provided by OIS Information Technology (IT) systems and equipment and as per the school requirements which varies across all age groups of students. OIS reserves the right to restrict access to internet content through OIS IT Facilities, as permitted by relevant governing law. This policy is designed to help parents and students better understand their obligations with respect to using associated IT systems and equipment.

Incidents: All known or suspected security incidents related to IT must be reported to IT HelpDesk at your respective schools

Applications: All general purpose Personal Computer (PC-including desktops, laptops, tablets or other such devices) are installed with a standard set of applications. Self-installation of unauthorised software is prohibited

Data Storage: All data stored on OIS property is considered OIS property. All such data may be considered temporary data and is subject to being deleted at any time

Copyright Laws: Any copying without permission, including electronic copying, is prohibited as per the relevant state or country law⁽¹⁾

Computer Hacking: Any hacking is strictly prohibited and can be a criminal offence as per the relevant governing law of the state or country ⁽¹⁾

Computers, Internet, email, social media etc. should be used appropriately. Inappropriate use includes the following (this is not an exhaustive list):

• Visiting pornographic sites
• Sending untrue/malicious statements
• Receiving, sending or downloading pornographic information
• Breaches of copyright
• Sending offensive/obscene statements/attachments
• Cyberbullying/harassment
• Anything that may damage the reputation or interests of OIS
• Discriminatory or illegal religious, gender and preferences materials, including visiting sites which contain extremist materials or views, or promoting or disseminating the same
• Making potentially libellous statements

At school premises, internet access provisions are primarily for educational purpose. Hence the usage for the purpose of storage of, access to, or downloading of material the is illegal, obscene, abusive, racist sexist, libellous, breach of copyright defamatory, playing computer games, access to chat rooms and personal entertainment are forbidden. At school, all internet users will be logged, subject to local regulations and subject to disciplinary actions if required.

OIS provides an Oakridge email id and access to all its students. Email system is to be used for education purposes only. Any student receiving any inappropriate content should inform their respective class teacher or IT HelpDesk immediately. Students/parents are responsible for the safety and security of their Oakridge email login credentials and in case of incident the audit trail login credentials will be used for authentication. In case of student/parent forgetting the login credential or suspect theft please reach out to school ICT immediately for recovery.

All entry to OIS Virtual School Experience (VSE) will be authenticated through Oakridge email id or through Oakridge authorized login credentials else the entry to VSE classes will be denied entry. The only exception is for new joiners who may not have access to the OIS login credentials immediately on their joining and the teachers can approve entry selectively based on prior intimation. The VSE links are solely for the purpose for student who receives it and students/parents shall not share any of these any VSE links with other classmates or with someone outside the OIS community from a cyber safety perspective. Recording of the VSE classes by any students/parents is strictly prohibited either through VSE platform or through other external software that allows screen and audio recording of the VSE classes as this is against the OIS policy of data privacy. Only an OIS teacher can record the VSE class for educational purposes if required and is governed by the internal policy of data privacy, protection and retention.

The spreading of viruses is subject to prosecution under the relevant governing law of the country. If you have an infected PC or file, or think you may have, do not use the PC or file. Notify IT HelpDesk at your respective school immediately.

Social media for the purpose of this policy refers to social networking sites (e.g. Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter etc), online forums, chat rooms, blogs, wikis or electronic newsletters and other technologies that allow creating and sharing of information via virtual communities and networks. Only social media sites authorized by OIS ca be accessed via the school information system and infrastructure while at school premise or when using school devices. Use of social media shall not affect OIS reputation through offensive, inappropriate or deregulatory remarks.

OIS uses G-Suite and o365 accounts for both its staff and students and this includes instant messaging services and video conferencing solutions like Teams and Meet. All such messages including personal message are logged and subject to local regulations. In addition, any personal messages initiated from OIS devices may be logged. OIS reserves the right to monitor communication if deemed necessary as a part of disciplinary or regulatory investigation and notification of such monitoring will not be given explicitly.

If a student is found to be using the IT systems, Internet, Email or other related mediums mentioned above inappropriately, in breach of this policy, then the student may be subject to disciplinary action. Any inappropriate use will be considered a disciplinary offence which may result in exclusion, and/or referral to law enforcement agencies. If OIS is found to be liable because of an act by a student, it reserves the right to pursue legal action against the individual involved.