‘Order on cameras in premises important but may lead to fee hike’

The Delhi government’s directive for installing CCTV cameras in every nook and corner of school premises has pushed a few schools in a tight spot.

Officials of budget private schools in the capital feared that implementing the order might result in a hike in school fees. “Private schools around JJ clusters and unauthorised colonies already charge students only about ₹200-₹500 per month, compared to ₹5,000-₹10,000 taken by high-end schools,” Chandrakant Singh of Coordination Committee of Public Schools said.

He added that if these schools will have to implement the order, it would hit their budget adversely. “Getting cameras installed in every part of a BPS school would cost at least ₹1 lakh. We would either have to take a loan or it would lead to hike in school fees. We will meet the government seeking financial assistance for this,” Singh said.

The situation doesn’t seem any better in government schools. According to Ajay Veer Yadav, general secretary of Government School Teachers Association, it is already mandatory for all schools run by Delhi government to have CCTV cameras. “There are no cameras in some schools and even if there are, monitoring is the main issue. Sometimes the cameras don’t work,” he said.

While no school denied the measures are necessary, they also pointed out issues with carrying out police verification of the non-teaching staff. “The transporters are private. We said we would get police verification done but it is not going to be easy. Still, the biggest problem is the private cabs as they are informally hired by the parents,” said Ameeta Vattal, principal of Springdales School, Pusa Road.

Yadav added that their security staff is outsourced and wondered who would get their verification done.