A succession of instances involving violence in city schools over the past few years has prompted several institutions to set up security cameras on their premises.
But the move has largely been limited to surveillance of hallways and campuses and not classrooms, from where reports regularly surface of teachers ill-treating students. This has driven a wedge between teachers and parents of students who support minimal scrutiny of their children and those whose wards are in primary school - who say classroom cameras are a necessity. ILP Security Services marketing manager Satish S said there had, over the past year, been a two-fold jump in schools asking his firm for security cameras for their campuses but no institution commissioned the devices for classroom surveillance.
Avantika Sundar, who has two young children at BVM Global School, said primary school students would be too young to comprehend things that senior students understand and cannot articulate their problems if something is wrong.
"Primary classrooms have impressionable and defenceless children who need to be monitored," she said. Last week, for instance, a student from a Cuddalore school lost his hearing after a teacher struck him with an exam pad -an attack that was sparingly reported.
According to the IT Act, a classroom qualifies as a public place of learning and can be monitored under law. But many teachers said constant surveillance could interfere with student-teacher rapport. "Students are now assertive and speak their mind.There's no need for classrooms to have CCTV cameras," a teacher said.
Padmashree K, the mother of a higher secondary student from Velammal Matriculation School, said monitoring classrooms could be futile."Schools can always destroy footage of an unsavoury incident," she said.
But the move has largely been limited to surveillance of hallways and campuses and not classrooms, from where reports regularly surface of teachers ill-treating students. This has driven a wedge between teachers and parents of students who support minimal scrutiny of their children and those whose wards are in primary school - who say classroom cameras are a necessity. ILP Security Services marketing manager Satish S said there had, over the past year, been a two-fold jump in schools asking his firm for security cameras for their campuses but no institution commissioned the devices for classroom surveillance.
Avantika Sundar, who has two young children at BVM Global School, said primary school students would be too young to comprehend things that senior students understand and cannot articulate their problems if something is wrong.
"Primary classrooms have impressionable and defenceless children who need to be monitored," she said. Last week, for instance, a student from a Cuddalore school lost his hearing after a teacher struck him with an exam pad -an attack that was sparingly reported.
According to the IT Act, a classroom qualifies as a public place of learning and can be monitored under law. But many teachers said constant surveillance could interfere with student-teacher rapport. "Students are now assertive and speak their mind.There's no need for classrooms to have CCTV cameras," a teacher said.
Padmashree K, the mother of a higher secondary student from Velammal Matriculation School, said monitoring classrooms could be futile."Schools can always destroy footage of an unsavoury incident," she said.