Did protest against CCTV cameras in staff room trigger transfer of school teachers?

Kalpetta (Wayanad): While the High Court has stayed the controversial transfer of five female teachers, the row over the installation of CCTV cameras in the school staff room which reportedly triggered the transfer hasn't died down. The teachers were transferred from the Government Higher Secondary School, Changanassery, to various districts of the Malabar region on June 26.

All the teachers who got transferred were either complainants or those who supported the complaint pending at the State Women’s Commission against alleged misuse of CCTV camera visuals installed in the staff room.

The HC had considered the applicants' contentions against the head of the institution and the education department that the mass transfer order was issued when the principal faced legal proceedings for alleged misuse of CCTV cameras installed in the staff room which was pending at the State Women Commission.

The transfer order described in detail the allegations against the teachers sparking a row. The teachers allegedly faced insulting comments on their behaviour and commitment to the profession.

The State Women’s Commission in a communication to the principal of the institution on May 8 had said that the CCTV cameras at the women teachers’ staff room may be removed. The panel also conducted a spot inquiry at the school on April 17 and noted that from the monitor installed in the office room of the principal, the movements of the women teachers could be closely watched and also visuals could be zoomed in, violating the privacy of the teachers.

Moreover, during the hearing of the panel at the school, all the teachers of the institution demanded the removal of the CCTV cameras installed in the staff room in order to ensure the smooth functioning of the institution.

Meanwhile, the teachers’ organisations pointed out that there is a standing instruction of the state government against installing CCTV cameras in staff rooms and classrooms. A circular issued by the Higher Secondary School directorate on July 12, 2018, clearly states that there should not be any CCTV cameras in classrooms. The circular also cites an order from the State Human Rights Commission against installing CCTV cameras in classrooms.

The High Court which first considered the case on July 2 had issued an interim order saying that if none of the petitioners has joined in the new place of transfer, they may be retained in the existing place without giving effect to the transfer order. Later in the final verdict on July 5, the court made an absolute interim order till the conclusion of the proceedings in the case filed by the five teachers at the ‘Kerala Administrative Tribunal’ against the transfer order.

Counsel of the teachers Advocate T Rajasekharan Nair said that the court had interfered as the mass transfer from the school to the northern part of the state was unfair. “The order was issued on ‘malafide’ intention to serve the vested interests of one or two persons. All the teachers transferred were part of legal proceedings against the former principal,” he said.

Teachers' organisations across political barriers had come out against the mass transfer as they felt the move was vindictive at a time when the Women's Commission was probing the complaints of the teachers.