Youth Protection on Student Laptops to be Strengthened
For five years, all children in the 1st grade of middle school and lower secondary school have been receiving affordable laptops or tablets through the school. Currently, it is only ensured within the school network that students cannot access inappropriate content. Education Minister Christoph Wiederkehr (NEOS) now wants to strengthen child and youth protection on the devices outside of educational institutions as well, with implementation set to start at the beginning of 2026.
Wiederkehr wants to tighten youth protection on student laptops
According to the Ministry of Education, the goal is to standardize child protection on all Windows student devices. By changing device management, IT security and child protection rules via web filter should apply on student devices in the future, independent of the schools' firewall or network filters. The transition affects student laptops and tablets at almost 1,000 locations, both new and those distributed in previous years.
The stricter youth protection settings are applied to the devices via cloud configuration, so they do not need to be collected separately. To ensure that the transition does not create too much effort for schools, solutions for automating the configuration will be offered, according to the ministry to APA. Currently, the regulation for student laptops and tablets does not provide for protection against inappropriate content in the private environment as a technical measure. This is now to be supplemented.
Stricter settings possible by parents
In addition, parents should have more control options in the future, such as monitoring their children's screen time and blocking access to certain websites. They can opt out of the school security configuration and set additional restrictions on the device using various free or paid tools. For iOS devices, parents can already individually set child protection according to the ministry.
According to a request from APA, the parents' association stated that while most parents are satisfied with the introduction of affordable student devices, there is a desire for a guide on how to ensure youth protection at home, as reported by the state associations of parent associations at middle and higher schools. Additionally, parents continue to see a need for "good media education," where children are taught responsible use, including breaks and "digital time-outs."
Since 2021/22, around 470,000 laptops and tablets for students and classroom devices have already been distributed through the Ministry of Education's device initiative. For student devices, families pay a deductible, and in return, the device becomes their property.
(APA/Red)
This article has been automatically translated, read the original article here.