Two CCTVs in each classroom: Rollout begins with govt school in Lajpat Nagar

“In your hands, the images of your children’s classrooms will continuously be fed to you… If we ever felt like we were doing something wrong in our schools, we wouldn’t have given you a feed from inside them…The straight answer to your questions of whether your children are studying, whether these cameras are working, will come straight to you through phones. This is true democracy…minute by minute, we will tell you whether your children are studying or not,” said Kejriwal, while addressing parents of school students.

He also said the project will result in an improvement of children’s academic performances. “This project is so grand that your child’s results will also be grand next year, and it will be due to these CCTV cameras,” he said.

The Lajpat Nagar school is the first of the over 1,000 Delhi government schools to have been equipped with cameras. There are two cameras in every classroom, apart from cameras at the main entrance, corridors, staircase, playground, library and so on. An official said the cameras cover “every inch of the school, except washrooms”.

As per the plan, parents will be provided with a link of the Delhi Government School app, along with a username and password, through an SMS. Once they activate their accounts, they can log in a maximum of three times a day, with a time cap of five minutes per session. Parents can only review footage from inside their child’s classroom. Footage from common areas will not be accessible to them, and will be streamed to the principal’s office.

The footage will also be available at a Command Control Centre, which is in the process of being set up at Jhandewalan, said Rakesh Dhar, director of Technosys Security Systems Pvt Ltd, the company implementing the project. This will be manned by their employees who can also access the footage, he said. The principal, deputy director of education, director of education and Education Minister, too, shall have access to live feeds as well as delayed feeds for one month.

Principal Bijesh Kumar Sharma said that a help-desk was set up for two days before the inauguration to orient parents on how to use the app. Director of Education Binay Bhushan said installation in 200 other schools will be completed by the end of July. The project cost is Rs 400 crore. The project had already been challenged in the Delhi High court by petitioner Daniel George on grounds of breach of privacy. Raising concerns against installing cameras without a regulatory mechanism, the petition contended it could lead to cases of stalking and harassment. However, in November 2018, the court stated there was nothing wrong with the proposal. In May this year, it was challenged in the Supreme Court as well, citing psychological pressure on students as well as privacy issues. The court issued a notice to the government, but the project was not stayed. The next hearing is on July 12.

On concerns over privacy, Kejriwal told parents, “Children don’t come to schools to do private things, but to study, learn discipline, become good citizens and good people. Which privacy will be compromised? Parents, students and teachers have no problem with this.”

Many parents said they were in favour of the project. “Bachcho ko itni aazadi ki kya zaroorat (What do children need so much freedom for)? It is a very good project. We can check if children have indeed gone to school,” said the mother of a Class VIII student.