Security televisions enter schools

Everytime you walk into a shopping mall, a music store, or a hotel lobby, you know that there are close circuit televisions (CCTVs) monitoring you.

But what if there are CCTVs in classrooms or in places of recreation?

That's exactly what some of the city schools are doing to make sure that the students, in the absence of a teacher, in between classes, or otherwise, do not get too mischievous.

Lorraine Mirza, principal of the junior section at Pailan World School, admitted the installation of such a facility in the school.

"The Pailan World School is spread over 40 acres and the authorities are responsible for every child's safety, it is imperative that close circuit televisions be installed," she said in justification.

The school has cameras in the laboratories, dining hall, kitchens, at the gate and in all the classrooms.

"We have classes upto class V as of now. The new session, beginning April this year, will have a few more senior classes," Mirza said.

"There are about 32 cameras in school right now," Priyanka Sengupta, senior co-ordinator of Pailan World School, said.

It cost the school about Rs 12 lakh to instal them, according to Sengupta.

With new classes and facilities like a swimming pool and racing tracks, the school plans to install about a hundred CCTVs soon.

"We will soon have cameras in the library. We may have cameras in the hostel corridors or in the commonroom as well," Mirza adds.

This is only to ensure the students' safety, especially because Pailan World School is a co-educational institute, say authorities.

This does not mean the school wants to invade privacy of students or faculty, promises Mirza.

"We are looking at a positive approach where the school staff, the chairman sitting in his Theatre Road office, as well as the parents can see what the children are up to in classrooms as well as during their co-curricular classes. For example, we had Saraswati Puja in school and parents were able to watch the whole event, thanks to the CCTVs," Mirza pointed out.

This comes especially handy for outstation parents.

Soon the school will be able to give away a software to parents that the latter can install in a computer and with a broadband connection parents can see their children right from home, no matter the distance from the school, even if it means overseas.

"The software will cost anything between Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000," says Mirza.

So, with teachers and parents monitoring the students in classrooms and even in places of recreation, a word of caution for the young citizens "" next time you exchange notes about a superior in the commonroom or swear to your friend, you might just be watched, by your teacher and your parents, not to mention the chairman of the school!