Digital Literacy And Anti-Harassment Act For Undergraduates

Digital literacy is hereby operationally defined as complete awareness of a person’s online data and its transaction in the form of an agreement on any sort of website (such as granting access upon downloading an application). This includes knowledge of the personal data that sites access as well as knowledge of all resources and rights granted to a person by the Law and knowledge of penalties in case of breach of any such online privacy. Role of Anti-harassment Act for Undergraduates: According to the Protection against Harassment of Women at Workplace Act, 2010 in the Constitution of Pakistan, sexual harassment is defined as unsolicited sexual advances of any sorts and forms, such as quid pro quo or misuse of authority, and has a penalty of heavy fine of five hundred thousand rupees, an incarceration of up to 3 years or both (according to an amendment to the section 509 of Pakistan Panel Code,1860). The law demands institutions of all kinds to have a well-defined Code of Conduct Policy and an unbiased committee, which consists of three persons (at least one of which is a woman), to investigate and resolve all harassment related cases.

All academic as well as other institutes in Pakistan have a well-defined, although not well-advertised, Code of Conduct which clearly states the body’s policy on such behaviours and their penalties. Its purpose is to protect women and men from harassment of any kind as well as a well-defined procedure for the punishment of the perpetrator. Students and teachers still suffer from abuse and harassment as they are unaware of either the definition of harassment, existence and effectiveness of the laws, existence of such a committee anti-harassment cell or scared of reporting it due to an array of reasons which include but are not, by any means, limited to: fear of authority, embarrassment and public humiliation, retaliation from perpetrator and insecurity. The motivation behind this research initiative is to find out how the lack of proper advertisement of the anti-harassment policies in academia affects the work environment for pupils and employees of the academic facility and to find out and develop more effective way of advertisement of this policy and compare the effects of this initiative on the harassment cases. Another goal is to create a better cognisance of these behaviours, the procedure of their report to authorities and thus, creating a fearless work and study environment for teachers as well as students.