Educational institutions begin collecting personal information even before a child enters the classroom. During admissions, they gather names, dates of birth, addresses, identity documents and contact information. As students progress through school, this expands to include attendance records, scores, health records, photographs, videos and participation in extracurricular activities.
As schools increasingly adopt digital platforms for learning and administration, the volume of student data being generated and processed has grown. Learning management systems, attendance apps, online examinations, digital report cards and parent communication platforms collect information to support teaching and school operations, adding to a child's digital footprint.
Schools also use websites and social media to showcase classroom activities, competitions and academic achievements. While these updates help keep parents informed and celebrate student success, they also raise questions about how much personally identifiable information should be shared publicly and whether parents fully understand how it may be used or retained. The growing use of third-party edtech platforms has expanded the student data ecosystem.
Speaking to Business Standard, Ravindra Baviskar, Director, Sales Engineering, Sophos India &
SAARC said that the gap between where educational institutions need to be and where they are today remains significant in terms of cybersecurity. More than 60 per cent of schools and colleges in India still lack a formal cybersecurity policy, while many EdTech platforms continue to rely on generic consent checkboxes that fall short of the verifiable parental consent required under the Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Rules.
Digital classrooms bring privacy challenges
As educational institutions become more connected, concerns around privacy are also becoming more complex. Unlike physical records stored within school premises, digital information can be copied, transferred and stored across multiple systems, making it more difficult to control who has access to it and for how long.
India’s news platform The Mobile Times has reported that the risks associated with schools sharing children's personal information online extend beyond privacy concerns. The report notes that once a child's photograph or personal information becomes publicly accessible, it can be difficult to remove and may be misused for impersonation, image morphing or online harassment. Citing National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data, it says India recorded more than 24,000 cybercrime cases involving minors in 2026, underscoring growing concerns around children's digital safety.
The report also highlights that the issue extends beyond schools, with coaching institutes, sports academies and other educational organisations often publishing students' photographs and achievements online. It adds that the absence of sector-specific compliance guidelines for educational institutions under the DPDP framework may create challenges in ensuring consistent protection of children's personal data.
According to the UNICEF report “Protecting young digital citizens 2025”, as digital tools become more integrated into children's daily lives, many young users may not fully understand the long-term implications of sharing their personal information online. Data collected through apps, social media platforms, games and educational technologies can include details about a child's identity, interests and online behaviour.
UNICEF notes that such information may be used for purposes such as profiling or targeted advertising, potentially affecting children's privacy and shaping their digital experiences over time.
Another area of concern is cybersecurity. Schools hold large volumes of sensitive personal information but may not always have the same cybersecurity resources as sectors such as banking or healthcare. Phishing attacks, weak passwords, accidental file sharing and unauthorised access to school systems can expose confidential student records. As more classroom activities move online, securing educational platforms becomes increasingly important.
"The single biggest risk is third-party vendor blind spots. Schools today operate an ecosystem of platforms like learning management systems, attendance apps, assessment tools and parent communication platforms. Each vendor independently processes children's data, often on cloud infrastructure the school has never audited. Attackers know this. They do not need to breach the school directly. They breach the weakest vendor in the chain and access data belonging to thousands of children across dozens of institutions in one operation," said Baviskar.
DPDP Act compliance and digital safeguards
The Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act, 2023, brings schools, edtech companies and other organisations that process children's personal data within a national compliance framework. Under the law, such entities are treated as Data Fiduciaries and are required to obtain verifiable parental consent before processing the personal data of individuals under 18. The Act also mandates that data be collected only for defined purposes, protected through enhanced security safeguards and handled with transparency, particularly when shared with third-party service providers. It further prohibits behavioural tracking and targeted advertising directed at children.
The Act also provides for a Data Protection Board to oversee compliance, investigate breaches and impose penalties for violations. As schools increasingly rely on digital platforms and third-party vendors for learning and administration, the framework is expected to encourage educational institutions to strengthen their consent mechanisms, review how student information is collected and shared, and improve overall data governance and accountability.
Concerns around children's digital privacy are also driving policy changes beyond schools. Governments across the world are tightening safeguards for minors online as worries extend beyond cyberbullying to grooming, harmful content, scams and the misuse of children's digital identities.
Countries such as Australia, the UK, France, Malaysia and Indonesia have introduced or proposed age-based restrictions on social media access, while India has also begun debating similar measures at both the state and national levels. The broader trend reflects a growing recognition that protecting children online requires stronger safeguards around both access to digital platforms and the way their personal data is collected and processed.
Why protecting children's data requires shared responsibility
Compliance alone, however, may not be sufficient to safeguard children's data, particularly as multiple stakeholders now play a role in digital education. Protecting children's personal data in digital classrooms extends beyond schools.
According to UNICEF's policy brief on Child Protection in Digital Education, digital learning offers significant educational benefits but also introduces risks that need to be managed by, schools, technology providers and families. As schools increasingly adopt educational technology, UNICEF recommends embedding child protection and privacy considerations into the selection, deployment and use of digital learning tools, rather than treating them as an afterthought.
Research by the Digital Futures for Children centre at the London School of Economics also highlights that EdTech platforms process children's personal and, in some cases, sensitive data. The research notes that schools may struggle to assess complex vendor contracts and fully understand how student data is processed, underscoring the need for stronger data governance and greater transparency from technology providers.
Protecting student data requires more than compliance
While regulation provides the legal framework, protecting children's personal data also depends on the day-to-day practices adopted by schools, technology providers and parents
"Compliance with the DPDP Act is the floor, not the ceiling. Schools must first map the data they collect, where it is stored, who can access it, and which third-party vendors process it. You cannot protect what you cannot see. Vendor risk assessments should become standard before adopting any EdTech tool, and schools should collect only the data necessary for a platform to function," said Baviskar.
Meanwhile, according to US-based edtech company “Ascend Education”, schools can strengthen student data security by implementing role-based access controls, enabling multi-factor authentication, enforcing strong password policies and regularly reviewing user access. The company also recommends encrypting sensitive records, using secure cloud storage, maintaining regular backups and avoiding unsecured file-sharing methods.
Access control is the first line of defence. Not every staff member needs access to every record — a finance team needs billing data, a counsellor needs support notes, a teacher needs grades and attendance. Role-based access, strong password policies, multi-factor authentication, and the prompt removal of accounts when staff leave are baseline measures that significantly reduce exposure from the start.
Secure storage matters equally. Schools often hold student records across multiple systems, making it essential to encrypt sensitive files, use secure cloud platforms, create regular backups, and audit vendor security settings. Compromised systems can leak data even when the institution itself has done nothing wrong — which is why third-party vendor relationships need the same scrutiny as internal systems.
Staff training is persistently underestimated. A single phishing email can expose login credentials for thousands of student records. Training should cover how to identify phishing attempts, handle student records appropriately, avoid unsafe file sharing, and understand why personal devices used for school work create risk.
The deeper shift is one of institutional mindset. Schools should regularly ask why a certain type of student data is being collected, who needs access to it, how long it should be kept, which vendors can access it, and whether students or parents understand how it is being used. A data audit — identifying what personal data is collected, where it is stored, and who can access it — is the single most useful first step for any institution beginning this process.
 "Student privacy in the digital age: Why schools need stronger safeguards")
