Hyderabad: A section of OU students protested on Saturday against a decision to instal CCTV cameras on the campus. The university’s decision flows from a set of guidelines on the matter issued by the UGC.
While the university still has to work out how many cameras it will install and the locations, it expects to ask the government for help to implement the guidelines.
The protesting students called the CCTV cameras an “invasion of privacy” and a “measure to curb student activism” on the campus.
G. Vinod Reddy, first year student and hosteler, said that the university had been a hotbed of student activism.
“Apart from some incidents of chain snatching and skirmishes between students and the faculty the university has no major law and order problem. This move, we believe, is primarily to target students who take part in protests like in Central universities," he said.
The UoH and the EFLU have CCTV cameras on campus. EFLU students have been very vocal against the measure.
OU Registrar Prof. E. Suresh Kumar said, “We will not install cameras inside hostel rooms and invade their privacy. The cameras will be in the hostel premises, in college corridors, chambers of principals and some outdoor locations to prevent any untoward incidents.”
He said the UGC had mandated the installation of CCTV cameras in its safety guidelines for students off and on campuses in institutions of higher education. “We have to comply with the guidelines. The cameras are for the safety of students,” Prof. Kumar said.
The UGC guidelines mention that one of the reasons to instal CCTV cameras is, “...such digital mechanism can enable HEIs (higher education onstitutions) to keep an eye on a student’s movement and whereabouts in failsafe manner.”
Download the all new Deccan Chronicle app for Android and iOS to stay up-to-date with latest headlines and news stories in politics, entertainment, sports, technology, business and much more from India and around the world.
