A large flat-screen TV flickers for a second before the images appear: uniformed students studying in a classroom; a teacher walking down a hallway; the wide, bustling street outside the gates. From the comfort of his office, principal BK Sharma can monitor everything happening at his school.

SHK Sarvodaya Bal Vidyalaya occupies a neat, white, two-story building in the Lajpat Nagar area of Delhi. Inside, 51 teachers take charge of approximately 1,500 students aged between 3 and 18. In July it became the first government school in the Indian capital to install CCTV throughout its classrooms and public areas. A total of 212 cameras were placed in every teaching room, lab and hallway, its library, staff room and playground — everywhere except student and staff toilets.

Principal BK Sharma believes that the cameras help to enforce discipline among students, who are mostly from low income economic backgrounds, and teachers. Footage from the cameras also allows him to quickly tackle problems such as bullying, fighting and petty crime. 

“Our objective had never been to spy on the students,” said Sharma, in a video interview which accompanies this story. “But our objective was that these should be used as an educational tool to inculcate the value of self-discipline.”