With the start of the new school term in the UAE schools have reinforced strict rules that bar learners from making or forwarding pictures as this is against the country’s privacy laws. This shift is due to the attempt to sensitise students and parents regarding severity of loss of privacy consequences.
Tablets and laptops have become part of learning tool is school, but mobile phones and tablets with SIM cards are banned. Returning to schools after the summer break, more than one million students are back to the schools across the UAE, and institutions have strengthened their protection measures in respect of their rights to privacy.
Ranju Anand of Gems Cambridge International Private School – Sharjah, the Principal, and CEO informed that the school provides training to both staff and students before joining about cyber security, and cultural awareness session for members was held and the students were made aware about social privacy and consent. She pointed the necessity of these sessions as the only and effective way to teach students about the appropriate use of social networks and the legal consequences of violating the UAE legislation.
Cyber safety assembly is a familiar procedure that takes place at the start of every academic session and topics in it are part of the Computer Science syllabus. Similarly, such sessions are helpful to the parents since they assist in directing their children on what to post on the website or not.
Other schools for instance Al Sadiq Islamic School have also followed this trend and even during orientation they warn students against taking photo’s at the school and sharing them on social sites. Claire Smith, Academy Assistant Principal of Gems Wellington Academy mentioned that the Center’s students participate in the compulsory Periodic safeguarding assemblies that address matters concerning digital safety and UAE law that can be an essential part of the program when they inform new students of the legal framework of the Emirate.
According to UAE laws and regulation, students found posting pictures of other individuals without their permission may be legally.asking them. Personal data protection laws are very strict and their breach translates to serious repercussions with probable judicial repercussions like probation or community services. In some occurrences, parents and schools might be held liable especially if the violation is as a result of lack of supervision.
Disclosing cultural legal information, legal expert Abdul Majeed Al Sweedy said that according to UAE law, parents, guardians, and schools are legally responsible to make sure that the privacy laws of the country are observed. The unintended distribution of these pictures may result in dire repercussions like parents being prosecuted for debt and schools being prosecuted for negligence.
The legal system in the UAE is established to guarantee personal anonymity including on social media. It hold for all members of society including teenagers and student in particular; the principle of the law focuses more on rehabilitation and education rather than on punishment. Minors found guilty of violating privacy laws may still be taken through the legal system, where the court may place them on probation, order them to do community service, or fit them with an electronic tag.
