Bengaluru: In the wake of more students falling prey to ‘Momo Challenge’, a deadly online game which consists of self-harming dares, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) has asked school principals and teachers to take steps to avoid any untoward incident.
Citing an advisory issued by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, the Board has also explained how the game works - to help parents, teachers and guardians identify any unusual behavourial traits among children.
According to the Ministry, if a child becomes withdrawn from friends and family, possesses a persistent low mood and unhappiness and looks worried and listless and shirks from carrying out his/her daily tasks, then it could be a symptom. “Sudden outbursts of anger (directed against themselves or others), loss of interest in activities that they used to enjoy and visible marks like deep cuts/wounds on any body part of the child should also be observed closely,” the advisory stated.
Parents have also been recommended to install a good cyber/mobile parenting software which helps them monitor their wards’ online activities. Last year, the Board has recommended similar steps to prevent students getting addicted to ‘Blue Whale’ game, which ran on a similar concept that urges the player to commit suicide.
Misuse of logo
Following reports of its logo being misused by certain commercial websites, the Central Board of Secondary Education has issued an advisory to avoid confusions. The board has asked users to visit only the official site and not any social media page for queries and registrations.
The advisory sent out by Anurag Tripathi, Secretary of CBSE, mentioned that many look-alike pages carrying the logo of the Board on social networking sites for registration of candidates were reported.
“This is creating confusion among public. All the members of public are, therefore, advised to visit CBSE official website http://www.cbse.nic.in for authentic and official information and avoid getting cheated by unscrupulous elements,” the advisory stated.
“The CBSE never asks for any details directly from the students through e-mail, Facebook, Twitter, phone or any other source” Tripathi explained.
