A Class VII student carried alcohol to school, poured it into a glass and clicked a photograph, which the child later posted on a social media platform.

This was not an isolated incident. Instances of campus indiscipline being advertised on social media are increasing across schools, teachers said. So are incidents of campus indiscipline being stoked by social media.

From summoning parents to barring students from writing a test, schools are trying various ways to control the misuse of social media.

Earlier, acts of indiscipline would stay within the school. Now, thanks to social media, they are grabbing eyeballs far beyond the campus.

“We see students posting unsavoury comments on social media about a peer student, which could be an outcome of a classroom fight. What could have remained between two persons or in a group becomes public,” said Amita Prasad, director, Indus Valley World School.

Despite schools not allowing mobile phones or enforcing curbs on their use
on the campus, pictures of children in uniform in the school are being clicked and circulated.

Children sometimes sneak in a mobile phone in their bag and use it on the campus without the teacher’s knowledge.

Many schools do not allow students to post their pictures in uniform, unless they are posting on the official pages of the institutions. Some even bar parents from posting their children’s pictures in uniform.

Most schools post their students’ achievements on social media with the parents’ consent at the beginning of the academic year.

“We discourage parents from posting their children’s photograph in school uniform on social media. If they have participated in a competition or won a prize, we ask them to get the photographs ratified by the school coordinators before posting them,” said Anjana Saha, principal, Mahadevi Birla World Academy.

If parents post casual pictures of their children in uniform, it sets a bad example for students and they get the impression that it is permissible to do so, a teacher said.

“Some parents send children to school with phones without informing the authorities,” said Sunita Sen, principal, The BSS School.

“The children want to use social media because it is a platform to showcase themselves and get social validation. It makes them feel they are ‘in’ and part of a social circle. At times, it gives them a false sense of bravado,” said Sen.

Sunita Sen, principal, The BSS School said children crave attention and they probably get that “easy attention” from social media.

Mahadevi Birla World Academy sends warning notes to parents as part of its drive to curb indiscipline among students.

“We at times take students off an exam or a school excursion to penalise them for instances of indiscipline on social media,” said Saha.

Prasad said the use of social media platforms will increasingly become more integral and hence, sensitising students to its judicious use is crucial.