How Effective Will the DPDPA Be for Protecting Children?

Turn DPDP Law Into Real Protection for Children

India’s Digital Personal Data Protection Act (DPDPA) has been widely welcomed as a major step toward safeguarding personal data. But one question matters more than all others for the education sector:

How effective will the DPDP really be in protecting children?

Children are among the most vulnerable users of digital systems, yet they leave digital footprints early—often starting in playschools. Schools, colleges, and universities therefore play a decisive role in determining whether the DPDP becomes a meaningful shield for children or remains only a legal framework on paper.

Why Children Needed Stronger Data Protection in the First Place

Children cannot understand how their data is collected, shared, or reused. They cannot predict long-term consequences, give informed consent, or challenge misuse. Yet their photos, names, habits, and learning data are collected daily through apps, cameras, forms, and communication tools. Before DPDP, much of this happened without clear rules. Data was often shared for convenience rather than necessity, and protection depended on goodwill rather than obligation.
DPDPA addresses this gap by recognising children as a group that requires extra safeguards, not just general protections.

What the DPDP Gets Right for Child Protection

The DPDP introduces several provisions that significantly strengthen child data safety.

• First, it requires verifiable parental consent before processing children’s data. This places parents firmly in control and forces institutions to be transparent.
• Second, it limits purpose and excess. Data can only be collected for a stated reason and cannot be reused casually.
• Third, it restricts tracking, profiling, and targeted use of children’s data. This is especially important in an era of apps and analytics.
• Fourth, it creates accountability. Institutions must respond to access, correction, and deletion requests and report breaches within defined timelines.

On paper, these measures are strong and child-centric.

Where the Effectiveness of DPDP Will Be Decided

The real effectiveness of the DPDP will not be decided by the law itself, but by how institutions apply it.

In education, effectiveness depends on:

• Whether schools replace informal data practices with secure systems
• Whether consent is meaningful or just paperwork
• Whether staff understand privacy or simply follow routines
• Whether vendors are properly checked
• Whether data is deleted when no longer needed

If schools treat DPDP as a checkbox, children will remain exposed. If schools treat it as a care framework, it becomes powerful.

Playschools: The Most Critical Test Case

Playschools are where child data protection is most fragile and most important. Daily photos, videos, and updates are common. Sharing is frequent and often informal. Children are too young to advocate for themselves, making parental trust absolute.
If DPDP is implemented thoughtfully in playschools through consent-based sharing, secure platforms, trained staff, and minimal data collection—it proves that the law can protect children from the very beginning of their digital lives. If not, even the strongest law cannot prevent exposure.

The Role of Schools in Making the Law Effective

Schools are not just data handlers; they are guardians of childhood.

The effectiveness of DPDP increases when schools:

• Build privacy into daily operations, not just policies
• Train teachers and staff on real-world data situations
• Choose privacy-first tools instead of convenient ones
• Communicate openly with parents
• Create clear processes for requests and concerns

When schools act responsibly, children benefit immediately—regardless of enforcement timelines.

Will Enforcement Alone Protect Children?

Enforcement matters, but it is not enough.

Children’s data is most often exposed through everyday habits, not headline-level violations. A forwarded photo, an open link, an old folder left accessible—these incidents rarely involve bad intent, but they still cause harm.

DPDP’s true strength lies in encouraging preventive behaviour, not reactive punishment. Schools that internalise the spirit of the law will protect children far more effectively than those who comply only when forced.

What Success Would Look Like

DPDP will be effective for children if:

• Parents feel confident about how schools handle data
• Children grow up with minimal digital exposure
• Photos are shared safely and purposefully
• Data collection becomes thoughtful, not automatic
• Privacy becomes part of school culture

In this future, child data safety is no longer a concern it is a norm.

The Law Is Strong but Its Impact Depends on Us

The DPDP gives India one of its strongest legal frameworks for child data protection. But laws do not protect children, institutions do.

For schools, playschools, colleges, and universities, the question is not whether the DPDP is effective in theory, but whether they are willing to make it effective in practice.

When education institutions choose care over convenience, children are truly protected.
Build privacy-first systems, train your staff, and protect students from day one. Book a Free DPDP Readiness Consultation