All schools in Delhi to be equipped with CCTV cameras

Parents in India's Delhi will soon be able to watch their kids at school in real time on their mobile phones.

[File Photo: VCG]

The city government in Delhi plans to install CCTV cameras in every classroom in the city and give parents real-time access to the footage through an app on their phones.

Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal said on his twitter account Wednesday that the monitoring system would "make the whole system transparent and accountable," and would "ensure the safety of kids."

The app, which is still in development, will also include the "complaint" function.

"If parents spot anything wrong and want to complain, they can use the app to register it. The issue will be addressed by officials from the department concerned," an official of the education department told the Hindustan Times.

Two appalling crimes targeting school students happened in and around Delhi in September 2017: A young boy was found with his throat cut in a school bathroom at a private school in Gurgaon, some 32 km from Delhi. Just days later, a five-year-old girl was raped by a member of staff at a school in the east of the capital.

Meanwhile, some teachers expressed their disapproval of the move. Ajay Veer Yadav, general secretary of Government School Teachers' Association, said the installation of CCTV cameras "seriously hamper teachers' privacy."

"By implementing such a decision, the government is distrusting teachers," The Indian Express quoted him as saying.

There are about 1,000 schools in the region, and the CCTV will be installed in all government schools within three months, according to Kejriwal.