DailyPost 690
CYBER SECURITY: SYLLABUS, CONTENT & PEDAGOGY
The news of hacks, breaches & lots of day to day irritants of the digital world is slowly having to toll on a society, which is certainly not very comfortable with the digital world. There are two harsh realities, first we have got addicted to the ease of digital life and second lots of services, utilities and conveniences are available only on the digital mode. Suffice to say we have to become conversant with the Security part of digital technology, as we move ahead towards a total digital existence. Some knee jerk efforts at different micro levels, have not be enough to make whole population Cyber Security aware, a basic requirement today. Complexity, apart it can be compared to the knowledge of traffic rules & it’s practice.
As computers made an emphatic entry into our lives, school syllabuses started incorporating it, some years back. That has made kids moving out of school comfortable with the machine & its multifarious usage. The teaching is pretty standardised. Same ought to happen with Cyber Security now. It should be a part of the regular curriculum from 5th / 6th standard. A national curriculum has to be worked out. The content & pedagogy has to be decided & validated on few test batches. Content & pedagogy would actually decide the level of learning & it’s usage. It’s a life safety & a saving skill both enmeshed into one.
All computer engineering courses should have Cyber Security as an mandatory paper preferably spread over all the semsters. The syllabus should match the need; robust, dynamic & real time. Four years following it would help. It would ingrained in the young engineers. Static contents would be of no use. Pedagogy is most important. Class room only might not serve the purpose. Only hands on is on is the message. As all engineers would keep having interface with IT, all should be made abreast as per their requirements.
It is needed across sectors & courses. A regulated yet dynamic and robust Cyber Security Education Program should become our hallmark. Cyber Security should become the lingua franca of our existence in the same ways as ubiquitous computers & internet are. Only this can provide us a safe passage to the real digital transformation.
CYBER SECURITY IS THE SAFETY GADGET / PRACTICE OF THE DIGITAL WORLD.
Sanjay Sahay