Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Saturday inaugurated a project to install CCTV cameras at all government schools in the national capital.
Terming it a “historic milestone”, Mr. Kejriwal said over 1,000 schools under the Delhi government will be equipped by the end of this year.
Mr. Kejriwal and Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia launched the project at the Shaheed Hemu Kalani Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya in Lajpat Nagar.
“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,” Mr. Kejriwal said adding that private schools had already been directed to install CCTV cameras, he said, adding that they will be “strictly” asked to implement the order.
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.
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.
Dismissing concerns that the CCTV cameras will compromise privacy of children, Mr Kejriwal said the initiative will help improve results.
‘To learn discipline’
“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.
Mr. Kejriwal said the CCTVs will ensure that the government is directly answerable to the 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.
The Chief Minister alleged that the Delhi government had struggled against the “misinformation campaign” of opposition political parties against the project. Mr. Sisodia, who also holds the Education portfolio, said that the Shaheed Hemu Kalani Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya had 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.
