Class 7 · Unit 5: Bias and citizenship · Lesson 5.5 · 40 min
Good digital citizens
Eleven laughing faces under an edited photo of Aamir. Nobody says anything. Hiba types "lol" — then stops. Saying nothing would be a twelfth laugh.
Today you will: Match every digital right to its responsibility · Write what an upstander actually says · Sign a class charter of real promises
Story
Someone in the Class 7 group has posted an edited photo of a classmate, Aamir. His face has been stuck onto a cartoon donkey with an app. Under it: "Aamir's new look 😂😂".
Eleven people have reacted with laughing faces. Nobody says anything.
Hiba sees it at night. She types "lol", then stops, deletes it, and looks at the eleven laughing faces again.
Hiba: “If I say nothing, that's a twelfth laugh.” (she thinks)
She sends Aamir a private message: "That post isn't okay. Are you alright?" Then, in the group: "Please delete this. It's not funny to Aamir."
Two minutes later, Bilal writes: "Agreed. Delete it." The post comes down.
Last year you learned to be kind and to check before sharing. This year: what are your rights online, and what do you owe everyone else?
Watch
Rights, responsibilities, and being an upstander — — scan code 7.5.5 in the printed book.
Warm up your fingers
Skill: fluent paragraph typing (Term 3 focus, 7 min)
- On typing.com, do one Intermediate or Advanced paragraph lesson. Aim for your own Term 3 target, not anyone else's.
- In Writer, type: "I have the right to be safe online. I have the responsibility to keep others safe too." Then fix mistakes using Ctrl + ←/→ and Backspace.
On the laptop
You need: LibreOffice Writer · unit-5/rights-cards.odt (8 rights, 8 responsibilities, jumbled) · unit-5/charter-template.odt
Mission 1: Rights and responsibilities (pairs, 7 min)
- ☐1
Open
rights-cards.odt, save asrights-<group code>.odt. Insert a 2-column table (Table → Insert Table). - ☐2
Predict: which right will be hardest to match? Then put each right beside its responsibility, and add one pair of your own.
Mission 2: Upstander replies (alone, 5 min)
- ☐3
For each case, write one private message and one public action: a classmate's photo edited into a joke and shared · someone keeps calling one student names · a fake AI "voice note" of a teacher going round.
Mission 3: Our class digital charter (whole class, 8 min)
- ☐4
On the projector, each pair adds one promise to
charter-template.odt, starting "We will…", not "Don't…". - ☐5
The class picks the eight best — covering privacy, kindness, truth, safety, AI use and reporting.
- ☐6
The teacher prints it. Everyone who agrees signs; it goes up in the lab.
No laptop today?
Do Parts 1 and 2 in notebooks with the cards printed. For Part 3, pairs write their promise on a strip; the class sorts the strips on the board, chooses eight, and a volunteer copies the charter onto chart paper.
Now you know
- A digital citizen is anyone who uses the internet — and every digital right comes with a responsibility.
- Rights: privacy, safety, free expression, access to information. Responsibilities: respect others' privacy, be truthful and kind, check information, report harm.
- Be an upstander: support the person privately, ask for the post to come down, tell a trusted adult — only in ways that are safe for you.
- Faking someone's photo or voice with AI to embarrass them is cyberbullying, even "as a joke".
- Getting help: the platform's Report button, a trusted adult. Adults can report at cybercrime.gov.in or call 1930; Childline 1098 helps children in need.
Debate it
Eleven people laughed at Aamir's picture. Most of them probably didn't mean any harm.
Why is it hard to be the first one to speak up? What made it easier for Bilal to be the second?
Check yourself — practice, not a test
1. Match each digital right to the responsibility that goes with it:
Right to privacy · Right to express yourself · Right to access information · Right to be safe
Match with: Respect others' privacy: don't share their photos without asking · Report harm instead of spreading it · Check it and credit the source · Be respectful and truthful2. What does an upstander do?
- ○ Laughs along so they don't get picked on next
- ○ Watches and says nothing
- ○ Acts safely to help: supports the person, asks for it to be removed, or tells an adult
- ○ Posts something even meaner about the bully
3. Using an AI app to put a classmate's face on a funny picture and sharing it is fine, as long as it's a joke.
- ○ True
- ○ False
4. Where can help or reports go? (choose all that apply)
- ○ A trusted adult
- ○ The platform's Report button
- ○ cybercrime.gov.in (for adults to report)
- ○ A group chat with more people
5. India's national cybercrime helpline number is ______.
Remember
Every right you have online, everyone else has too. Be an upstander.