24 CCTVs secure kids in this govt school

Bangalore: “Sir, if you want to beat me, do it in front of the CCTV camera.” This is how students of Government Primary and High School, Uttarahalli, south Bangalore, dare their teachers who try to invoke the cane to rein them in.
Teachers though take it in good humour. For they are proud to be part of a government school that has taken the lead in implementing the police department’s nine-point guidelines, including installation of CCTVs for safety on campus.Quite a far cry from their private counterparts who are resisting the measures.
The Uttarahalli school has installed 24 CCTVs with assistance from Bangalore South MLA M Krishnappa and public funds. Security is taken very seriously on the campus.
When a TOI team visited the school on Tuesday, a security guard accosted them, questioning: “Who are you? Why have you come to the school? Show me your identity card.”
In contrast, private schools gripe that they can’t afford to spend Rs 24,000 to Rs 28,000 on a CCTV camera or bear the expenditure of hiring security guards round the clock.
The Uttarahalli school, however, is charting a new course on how campuses should be run. Teachers have placed suggestion boxes at every nook and corner of the three-storey, 40-classroom building. Students can drop in their complaints on bullying by schoolmates or harassment by teachers or any other grievance. The boxes are opened every day after school hours and each plaint is seriously addressed.
No wonder the kids are a happy lot. Hemavathi N, a class 9 student, says she is proud to be a student here. Girl students even have a dressing room where they change before rushing to the playground, she says.
Mouseena S and Kusuma, also in class 9, said, “We feel safe here and it is as good as a private school. We get all facilities for free.”
Authorities claim this is the only government school in the state with this many CCTV cameras.
BOXES
Website, separate loos too
Usually government schools lack facilities. But not the Uttarahalli school. It has its own website. After school hours, students attend computer training sessions run by NGO Learning Links Foundation. The sessions are also open to poor students from other schools.
The school also has over 30 desktops and students have access to nearly a dozen laptops and tablets. The poor students of this school use two smartboards to learn and take online tests conducted by teachers. There are separate toilets for boys and girls. The school also has a borewell and a Rs 2-lakh water purifier.
Quote:
‘Public funds mobilized’
The school has mobilized funds from the public. I have asked all deputy directors of public instruction department to collect details on installation of CCTV cameras in government schools. Details will be consolidated and a proposal sent to the government seeking funds to install CCTVs at least in big schools. A corporate social responsibility meeting will also be conducted seeking private partnership to install CCTVs in government schools
Mohammad Mohsin / Commissioner for Public Instruction Department
School facts
*Uttarahalli school opened in late 1950s
*Campus is spread across 1.5 acres
*Around 1,600 students study in classes 1 to 10. High school classes are run in both English and Kannada medium
*It has about 45 teaching and non-teaching faculty