Schools allowed to spend Rs 1.5L each to install CCTV cameras

Ravinder Saini

Rohtak, February 18

The Department of School Education (DSE) has authorised the school management committee (SMC) in every government school across the state to spend upto Rs 1.50 lakh out of the Consolidated Children Welfare Fund (CCWF) for the installation of close circuit television (CCTV) cameras.

Will help check theft incidents, too

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The move aims at bringing all government schools under the ambit of the third eye surveillance, besides fulfilling mandatory condition of the CCTV cameras at all those schools which are made centres for annual exams of classes X and XII conducted by the Haryana Board of School Education (HBSE). Moreover, it will also prove helpful in checking theft incidents, said sources.

SMC set up at all govt institutes

• The SMC has been constituted at all government schools so that parents, teachers and panchayati raj institutions representative of the village concerned can be involved to ensure a participatory and inclusive education system.
• The head of the school is the member secretary of the SMC who owns the responsibility of preparing a school development plan, overseeing how the school grants are used and monitor the school functioning.

“Though many schools have already installed the CCTV cameras on their premises, there are considerable number of schools where these are yet to be installed. Last year, these schools were asked to buy the cameras from the school grants but many of these could not do so as the grant was already spent by that time, hence the department has now authorised the SMC to spend Rs 1.50 lakh from the CCWF for the purpose,” said the head of a government senior secondary school.

He said last year, the HBSE had made the CCTV cameras mandatory for those schools where exam centres were set up. Since the exams of classes X and XII were round the corner, hence such schools needed to install the cameras for checking unfair means and keeping a tab on the examinees. This was also one of the major reasons for authorising the SMC for withdrawing money from the CCWF for the purpose, he added.

The school head said every student contributed Rs 45 in the CCWF at the time of admission and this fund was used for different purposes. Many schools do not use this fund due to the lack of knowledge about its utilisation.

“Since the department has now issued guidelines regarding the expenditure upto Rs 1.50 lakh from the CCWF for buying and installing the CCTV cameras (indoor/outdoor, DVR/NVR, display unit, PoE network switch, rack, cat-6 UTP cable and conduit, UPS) hence such schools will now spend it to bring their premises under the surveillance of the third eye,” he added.