CCTV TO BE INSTALLED IN THOUSANDS OF SCHOOLS IN INDIA TO PROTECT CHILDREN – OR TO SPY ON TEACHERS?

▶ Unionists, civil rights campaigners and lawyers say the multimillion-dollar project breaches privacy laws

India plans to install CCTV cameras in thousands of New Delhi classrooms after a series of high-profile crimes against children.

The multimillion-dollar project in New Delhi has proved highly controversial, with teachers fearing the cameras will be used to monitor them without their knowledge. Civil rights campaigners also say the plan, which critics have likened to a “prison-like” environment, breaches privacy laws.

But Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal says the scheme will ensure children’s safety. “Each parent will be given access to see his child studying in class on real-time basis on his phone,” Mr Kejriwal tweeted. “This will make the whole system transparent and accountable.”

Putting cameras in the city’s 1,000 or so government-run schools revives a plan originally announced by Mr Kejriwal’s government in March 2016. At that time the project was budgeted at 1 billion rupees (Dh57.5 million).

Although officials have said installing the cameras will start in three months, a date of completion has not yet been announced.

The use of cameras follows violent incidents in schools in and around the capital. In September, a 5-year-old girl was raped in north-east Delhi. Also that month, a 7-year-old boy was found dead with his throat cut in toilets in Gurugram.

School staff have been involved in crimes. A member of staff in the suburb of Greater Noida was arrested for raping an 11-year-old boy in October.

And on Tuesday, Delhi police filed charges against a school in the western Delhi suburb of Dwarka for failing to stop or report the “sexual assault” of a 4-year-old girl by a classmate.

The incidents all happened in private schools, of which there are about 5,000 in Delhi. But the state government only has the power to instal CCTV cameras in public schools.

The monitoring system is being designed to include a mobile app, which parents will access with a login, enabling them to watch a live feed of their child in class. School staff will also be able to access their own institution’s camera feeds, while education department officials will be able to access the feeds of all Delhi schools.

Kanwaljeet Singh, 42, a taxi driver whose 7-year-old son goes to a government school in south Delhi, welcomed the decision to use CCTV.

“That boy was just about my son’s age, more or less,” said Mr Singh. “It was shocking and I definitely started to worry about what kind of safety these schools are able to provide.

“The Gurugram murder happened in a bathroom. I know we can’t put cameras there. But what about the corridors and playgrounds and other public spaces in the school?”

Meanwhile, the public school teachers’ union said it would be registering its protest against the plan with the government.

Ajay Veer Yadav, general secretary of the Government Schools Teachers Association of India, said he suspected the cameras would be used to keep tabs on teachers, as well as to secretly evaluate their performance.

“This will interfere with our work,” said Mr Yadav, adding that the cameras would make teachers self-conscious and less effective at disciplining their pupils. “If the government really wants to improve safety they should hire more teachers. We don’t have enough.”

The state school system in Delhi is facing severe staffing shortages, with only 38,926 of a total 66,736 teaching positions filled. About 17,000 of the filled positions are held by “guest” teachers hired on short-term contracts and paid by the day.

Delhi lawyer Apar Gupta said the plan could infringe on children’s civil rights after India’s Supreme Court decision in August to make privacy as a fundamental right for children and adults.

“I’ve never heard of an example where live feeds are available on an app to parents or others,” Mr Gupta told The National. “That kind of monitoring creates a real prison-like environment.”

He also criticised the authorities. “In a lot of instances, the child’s primary caregiver has the right to make limited decisions about the child’s privacy. But the decision is being made here not by the parents, but by the government.”

If the government really wants to improve safety they should hire more teachers. We don’t have enough

AJAY VEER YADAV General secretary of the Government Schools Teachers Association of India