CCTV cameras in all Delhi govt schools by November: Kejriwal
NEW DELHI: After long struggles, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday launched a project for installation of CCTV cameras in all government schools in the city, saying it will be a "historic milestone".
Launching the project at Shaheed Hemu Kalani Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Lajpat Nagar, Kejriwal said over 1,000 Delhi government schools will be equipped with CCTV cameras by November this year.
Private schools have already been directed to install CCTV cameras, he said, adding that they will be "strictly" asked to implement the order.
Kejriwal said that his government had to struggle against misinformation campaign of the opposition parties against the project.
"It's a historic milestone in school education in the country and the world as live feed from classrooms will be provided to parents on their mobile phones through an app," Kejriwal said.
Dismissing concerns that the CCTV cameras will compromise privacy of the schoolchildren, the chief minister said the initiative will help improve results of Delhi government schools next year. "There will be no privacy breach, children go to school for education, to learn discipline and become good citizens of the country... they do not go there for anything private," he said.
Kejriwal said the CCTVs will ensure direct answerability of the government towards people. "We would not provide live feed to the parents if the schools were not running properly," he said, adding that the cameras will also ensure children's safety and instil discipline in them.
Parents of children studying in Delhi government schools will be able to get live feed of the CCTV cameras through 'DGS Live' app which can be downloaded from Google Play Store.
After downloading the app, they will receive an SMS from the government control room. They will be able to access live classroom feed after proper verification.
Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia said Shaheed Hemu Kalani Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya has become the country's first government school to have CCTV camera coverage. He interacted with a few parents who supported the move. Citing various benefits of the CCTV cameras, he claimed students and teachers also supported the move.
Deputy chief minister also explained the rationale for installing CCTVs in classrooms. He said, "All of you remember that a child died in a private school almost two years ago, and the police investigation into the matter is still on. That's when the Chief Minister directed the installation of CCTVs in government school classrooms. First we installed CCTVs in the school campus. In the meantime another accident occured where one of our teachers was killed. That incident had happened inside a class room."
"Teachers face allegations of absenteeism from classrooms. No one will now be able to wrongly accuse teachers of skipping classes. During the pilot of this project, I was concerned that everyone may not like CCTVs inside classrooms, but I was surprised to find that both students and teachers gave a positive response for the project. We have observed an identifiable improvement in the behaviour of children in the schools where this project was piloted." Sisodia said.
As part of the project, two CCTV cameras will be installed in each classroom. Entire school premises, barring the washrooms, will be under 360 degree coverage of the cameras and their feed will be monitored from a control room.
