THE Education (MOE) must boost cybersecurity to ensure students participating in online classes are not interrupted by untoward incidents, such as the sudden appearance of a pornographic video, which recently occurred, parents and experts said.

They suggested the ministry use a closed platform, over which it could have full control, and implement stricter web filtering.

Cybersecurity consultant Foong Chong Fook said the open platform used by students for the online classes for nearly two years now does not give the ministry control over content.

“Students are using platforms such as Google Classroom so when pornographic content appears, it is not surprising,” Foong said.

“In simple terms, the purpose of open platform development is to offer convenience and no limitations. Privacy controls are relatively weak.

“We need our own platform.”

Foong said the MOE also needs to make efforts to filter web pages more thoroughly.

And although the online world is infinite, he said there are ways to manage and control and the space to make it safer for students.

It was reported that an explicit sex video had appeared on the screens of during attendance taking for an exam conducted via video conferencing platform Google Meet last month.

Parents suggested that the person in charge of the platform could have played the offending video or that the platform had been hacked.

The police said they had received five reports over the matter.

National Union of the Teaching Profession (NUTP) secretary-general Wang Heng Suan said it is necessary to switch to an online teaching platform that can accommodate more students, such as Zoom.

“We have learnt that some students had forwarded the logon link to others, causing outsiders to try to log in and share pornographic photos.

“There are also naughty students deliberately sharing pornographic content,” Wang said.

He pointed out that some platforms are now improved to record the time students log in and out.

He believes that with this improvement, such incidents will decrease.

“The internet is a colourful world, and everything is easily accessible so it is difficult to control.

“However, we will use moral teachers and counselling lectures to identify relevant students and speak to them.

Worried parents

Chinese education group Jia Zong chairman Ronnie Wong said parents are  concerned over the issue of safety.

“Asians are very conservative and not as open as foreigners. When pornographic content appears in online classes for such young children, how can parents not worry about it?

“What if the child imitates the actors after watching it?” Wong said

Wong has confidence that the MOE will have an effective control method to prevent the problem from recurring.

Earlier, former deputy education minister Teo Nie Ching issued a statement that the MOE must ensure that the online learning platforms are safe.

She urged the MOE to use all its resources to ensure the safety of students participating in online courses and to study ways to ensure the safety of sharing content in Google Meet.

She said that the ministry must also protect the platform from hackers.

Teo said sharing explicit videos with children is a crime under the Sexual Offences against Children Act 2017 (Act 792).

“We cannot underestimate the seriousness of the problem. I call on the MOE to investigate this matter and to communicate the progress of the investigation with the public, especially the parents.

“MOE must take active measures to ensure that online learning is safe.” – November 1, 2021.