In the UK there are 4.2 million CCTV cameras watching our every move, - one camera for every 14 people!

On average we are watched 300 times a day, and that excludes whilst you’re in school.

At present CCTV is installed in most schools but some schools are now fitting them in school lavatories and classrooms. Outraged parents have protested to Ruth Kelly, the education secretary, as they believe this is an intrusion on your privacy.

Advocates of CCTV in schools say the footage can be used to confront bullies and their parents with evidence of their behaviour, and also enable teachers to combat vandalism, smoking and drug-taking.

We put this to our council members Timothy Joseph and Katie Wardlaw. Below are there responses

Question:

Timothy would you like CCTV in your school?

Personally I think it’s a good idea to be honest. Of course there are negatives about having CCTV in schools but the positives clearly outweigh them. Some schools may object, but I think most children would actually be quite happy with having CCTV in there school.

The positives

There are quite a few positives of CCTV in schools. One of them is that, as a school you would be able to watch who was getting bullied, who by, what they were doing, and where they were doing it. That way the school would have enough proof to act, which in turn would make the victim much happier.

Another positive would be, say for instance something went missing. You could check on the CCTV and be able to identify the perpetrator.

Another would be if there was a fight, and you didn’t know how it started or who started it off. You could look at the CCTV and catch the culprit and punish them. As well as the people who were fighting.

The negatives

There are also quite a few negatives of getting CCTV in schools.

One of the main reasons is a complete waste of money. Schools spending thousands of pounds on something they will only use to chastise children and get them into trouble, whereas the money could be spent on something valid such as computers or initiatives which will keep children busy at break time.

Another key point is that children may see it against their human rights and not want to be watched at school. In my opinion they shouldn’t put them in certain places such as toilets or changing rooms. You can’t have them in toilets because it’s your privacy. Reasons why it would be good though would crack down on smoking, drug taking and vandalism. The idea that children get bullied in toilets however this is just a school myth and is not a valid excuse to put CCTV there. Also parents may not want their children being watched while they are working.

Moreover, children will be children; they will get up to mischief to a certain degree. You would not be able to punish each child when they do wrong because at the end of the day each child will get up to a certain degree of mischief.

Upon conclusion whilst CCTV is a good idea, in my opinion the money could be spent on something which could benefit the school a lot more then just CCTV.