Primary schools run by the Delhi municipal corporations are infamous for their inadequate infrastructure, staff shortage, and abysmal annual enrolment numbers.
The schools, which do not charge any fee, are largely attended by children from the poorest sections of society. Most of the students have left for their villages for summer vacation and will be back in July when the schools reopen.
The children attending schools run by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) are in for a surprise as the civic body has installed nearly 4,000 CCTV cameras in its 388 primary school campuses.
The primary municipal school in Humayunpur was one of the first to get the CCTVs, which were installed early this year.
From his office, principal Inder Mani Mishra has access to footage from the 12 cameras installed around the school’s campus. The CCTVs have been set up at the entrance gate, entry to toilets, corridors, the playground, an “activity room” where joint classes are held, and other strategic locations. No cameras have been installed inside classrooms.
Constant monitoring
“We can see who is picking up or dropping off the kids… We have heard of unfortunate incidents that happened in some schools; the cameras are useful in that regard,” said Mr. Mishra.
But security is not the only thing that the CCTVs are useful for, they also help keep the students in line. “We sometimes scare the students by telling them that there are cameras watching them, they become alert after that… at least for a while, then they go back to being themselves,” said the principal smiling.
The cameras have also helped resolve issues between students. When seven-year-old Sagar stole a pair of shoes, it was the threat of being revealed on camera that made him admit the mistake and return the shoes. At the time the incident occurred, the cameras were only live-streaming and there was no recording of the incident.
Mr. Mishra now wants a camera to be installed at the staircase as the students have figured out that the area is not under the watch of any CCTV, and are especially “shararati [naughty]” there.
“But if kids are not naughty then how are they kids,” asked Ashok Kumar, a parent of a student who goes to the school in Humayunpur. Mr. Kumar is glad that the cameras have been installed. “There has not been any untoward incident here but you do not wait for something to happen before taking precautions,” he said.
When Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal had announced the CCTV scheme for Delhi government schools, he had also proposed that the footage would be made available to parents through a mobile app.
Mr. Kumar and other parents believe the same facility will be provided to them. When asked whether they were worried about their child’s privacy, Mr. Kumar argued: “They are little kids, what privacy do they need?”
Around 3,940 CCTVs have been installed in 388 SDMC schools, many of which have two shifts — effectively creating a total of 581 schools.
The project was undertaken at a cost of roughly ₹5.5 crore. The smaller schools have around eight cameras while the bigger schools have up to 16 CCTVs, said an official.
Education activist and advocate Ashok Agarwal said he supported the installation of CCTVs given the frequent cases of corporal punishment and other life-threatening incidents that take place in schools. “Municipal schools are also woefully lacking in security guards,” he added.
Mr. Agarwal, however, opposed the idea of CCTVs being installed inside classrooms. “There is a relationship inside a classroom between teachers and students that should remain private,” he said.
“If access to this footage is given to parents, who knows how it might be used,” said Mr. Agarwal, suggesting possible misuse by paedophiles.
Nandini Sharma, the chairperson of the SDMC Education Committee, said there are no plans to provide parents access to the CCTV footage. “We do believe there is some privacy which belongs to the child that we should not interfere in. After all, no one appreciates such an intrusion,” she added.
Location of CCTVs
Ms. Sharma said that while locations of two-three cameras were pre-decided, the rest were left to the discretion of the principals. Several municipal schoolteachers The Hindu spoke to said they were not consulted on locations of the CCTVs. The recorded footage is stored up to one month.
Last year, a public interest petition was filed before the Delhi High Court seeking direction to the authorities not to instal CCTV cameras inside classrooms. The plea contended that it was not “healthy” to have cameras inside rooms where children, including girls, often discuss personal things among themselves.
It also contended that constant scrutiny would have a psychological impact on the children apart from raising concerns of voyeurism and stalking.
The petition further argued that installing cameras without a regulatory mechanism on access to its footage could lead to incidents of stalking and molestation. The HC is yet to pass any direction on the petition, which is now posted for hearing on September 1.
At the municipal school in Humayunpur, Mr. Mishra said that whenever students entered his room they could not keep their eyes off the CCTV feed and would quickly point out if they saw someone stepping out of line. “Look sir! Look at what he is doing,” the principal imitated the students.