CBSE mandates CCTV in schools to strengthen students’ safety

In a notification issued on Monday, CBSE announced an amendment to its Affiliation Bye Laws-2018, which governs school affiliation. The revised chapter on physical infrastructure under the bye laws, which covers essential facilities like classrooms, labs, playgrounds, libraries, drinking water, and toilets, now includes a new clause on closed-circuit television (CCTV) to further strengthen students’ safety in schools.

As per the new norms, schools must install cameras at entry and exit points, corridors, staircases, classrooms, labs, libraries, canteens, playgrounds, and other common areas, excluding toilets and washrooms, with real-time audio-visual recording and a minimum 15-day storage backup, “which may be accessed by the authorities, if required.”

The move aligns with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR)’s ‘Manual on Safety and Security of Children in Schools’ released in September 2021, which stresses emotional and physical safety of students, protection from bullying, and a secure environment for their holistic development. The manual calls for CCTV in schools that “needs to be monitored and maintained regularly.”

Emphasising that children have a constitutional right to live with dignity and access education in a safe and supportive environment, CBSE secretary Himanshu Gupta said in the notification, “All the affiliated schools shall strictly adhere to this provision in letter and spirit for the safety of school children.”

Gupta told HT that the board had noted several recent incidents against students in schools across some states, prompting the directive to install CCTVs to ensure their safety and well-being.

“It is very important that schools should have adequate safety features and hence we have asked schools to install CCTV. As far as compliance is concerned, we expect that schools will immediately do it. We hope that all our affiliated schools will comply with the norms within a month. We will collect the data on how many schools installed CCTV after one month,” he said.

According to information available on CBSE’s website, the board has 30,984 affiliated schools. Two incidents of sexual abuse cases in schools – one each in Gujarat’s Junagadh and Odisha’s Jharsuguda district – were reported this month. In June, a Kerala school teacher, accused of abusing an autistic student, was dismissed from service.

School principals have supported CBSE’s mandate for CCTV in schools but emphasised the need for regular equipment maintenance to ensure effective implementation.

Ankur Singhal, director of a private school in Ghaziabad said, “We have already installed CCTV cameras in our school. CCTV cameras in school premises enhance safety and security of students as we can monitor the school premises and collect the evidence if some mishaps occur in the school.”

Appreciating the move, Asha Prabhakar, chairperson of National Progressive Schools’ Conference (NPSC) and principal Bal Bharti Public School, Noida said that the mandate towards installation of high-resolution CCTV cameras is a welcome step. “We have already upgraded our cameras, now since it’s mandatory, it will result in benefiting all the stakeholders including students and school infrastructure across schools,” she said while adding that upgrading to high-tech audio-visual cameras will benefit not only schools but local administration also when needed.

A Delhi government school official said that the many schools’ cameras have not been upgraded and still rely on video only cameras while lacking maintenance and regular audits of these equipment. “Most of the schools have not upgraded to these audio-visual cameras, whatever cameras we have are maintained mostly by third parties, many of them do not work,” said an official, requesting anonymity.

In September last year, CBSE issued a CCTV policy mandating that all schools designated as exam centres must have CCTV monitoring to ensure the integrity and fairness of board examinations.