MUMBAI: School Education Minister Varsha Gaikwad on Friday said that the state government has asked all private schools to ensure CCTV cameras in their permise are installed before the start of the next academic year.
She was speaking in the legislative council during a discussion on safety of students following the rape of a 11-year-old girl in her school in Pune.
The accused, known to the girl's father, was nabbed based on the footage from the school's CCTVs. In 2016, the state had issued a circular directing private schools to install cameras. Across the state, so far only 47% of the 44,380 private aided and unaided schools have installed cameras.
In Mumbai so far 81% schools have installed cameras in their premises. Across Mumbai region, 71% of the 8,486 schools have cameras in their premises. “The Pune school where the incident took place had installed cameras but they did not have hard disks. Only installing cameras is not enough, schools have to ensure that they are operational,” said Gaikwad.
She said that of the 65,000 government schools in the state CCTV's have been installed only in 1624 schools. “We will cover the remaining schools in a phase wise manner in the next one year,” said Gaikwad. The issue was raised in the council by Sena MLC Manisha Kayande. “How can an unknown person walk into a school and carry out such an act.
This raises questions about the safety of the students,"said Kayande. Sakhi-Savitri Committees to be formed in all the schools in the next 15 days.
