Summary:
NEW DELHI: Delhi high court on Tuesday sought the AAP government’s stand on its proposal to install over 1.4 lakh CCTV cameras inside classrooms at the state-run schools.A bench of acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar asked the government to explain the reasons and circumstances behind the move, noting that while there may be concerns for students security behind the proposal, it ‘might stifle initiative’ of children in the classroom.Stressing that children too have a right to privacy, the court wondered how much of it would apply to a classroom if it was monitored by CCTVs. It however, said in some cases, monitoring and scrutinising of the teaching method may be required.HC asked the government to furnish a status report explaining the reasons and circumstances behind its move and added that it wants to know if any exercises were undertaken before initiating such a proposal by the next date of hearing on August 21.On its part, the government submitted that schools in most of the first-world countries have cameras inside classrooms and on campus for safety, and cited a recent ‘selfie with teachers’ initiative at the government schools in some districts of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand to curb absenteeism by teachers.However, petitioner Daniel George argued that it was not healthy to have cameras inside classrooms where children, including girls, often discuss personal things adding that constant scrutiny would have a psychological impact on them..