MOE Responds to Complaints that App in Learning Devices for Students Infringed Students’ Privacy

Previously, it was announced that all students would receive a personal laptop or tablet by the end of 2021.

This personal learning device (PLD) can be subsidised with Edusave.

They are meant to aid home-based learning (HBL), which will begin for secondary school, JC and Millenia Institute students in the third term.

However, the Ministry of Education also mentioned that a Device Management Application (DMA) will be installed in those devices.

This allowed devices to be tracked and remotely controlled by the teacher.

This left several students unsatisfied.

On 24 Jan, a Reddit post with a link to a petition appeared on the site.

It called for the DMA to not be installed on student laptops, saying that it breached personal privacy.

As of this writing, the petition has over 5,900 signatures.

MOE Responds to Complaints that Learning Devices for Students Infringed Students’ Privacy

On 28 Jan, the Ministry of Education (MOE) has replied to the above concerns.

MOE states that the DMA won’t track things like location information but will still monitor browsing history, The Straits Times reported.

It will also not keep track of passwords or identification numbers.

Mr Aaron Loh, divisional director of MOE’s educational technology division, took to answering several more queries.

The DMA is supposedly for teachers and parents to restrict certain content like inappropriate adult sites, ones that promote extremism as well as gaming sites.

Mr Loh says that data gathered will be stored in servers managed by DMA vendors.

“This is in line with the Government’s personal data laws and policies to safeguard sensitive data collected by public agencies.”

The DMA will be uninstalled upon a student’s graduation.

He also mentions if parents would like to use home devices as their children’s PLDs, they have that option too.

But that would require the DMA being installed inside them as well.

Concerns From Multiple Parties

Much like the initial Reddit post and petition, students still express their concern over the DMA and their privacy.

Some feel that this method is too controlling and expressed that students needed their own space.

Another felt that it was okay to block sites during school hours, but could achieve the same results with a regular software without a teacher’s assistance.

Jing Yu Lye, the one who ran the petition, also said that having such restrictions on devices were not going to help in their self-regulation.

“They still have access to their phone and other devices.”

According to Mr Loh, the MOE is aware of these concerns over the flexibility of using the PLDs. They will see if an arrangement can be worked out.

Currently, MOE is working towards giving parents the option to manage their child’s device outside of school hours.

Majority of parents so far have been in favour of this movement from the MOE.

They feel like the DMA will be useful, though one suggested that it could be turned off after school and during weekends.

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