Secondary school receives backlash after installing CCTV cameras in unisex toilets
25 March 2019, 09:26
One secondary school in Somerset has angered parents and students after setting up cameras in their unisex toilets.
Buckler’s Mead Academy in Yeovil, Somerset, has received backlash from students and parents.
The outrage comes after the school installed CCTV cameras into their unisex toilets, with some students claiming the security cameras inside the communal area of the toilets point towards the cubical doors.
Staff have said the surveillance is necessary due to fighting between children as well as vandalism.
Some parents of students that attend Buckler’s Mead Academy have labelled the cameras a “breach of privacy”.
One father claims four students at the school have been excluded for damaging the cameras.
The unnamed father told the Daily Mail: “Four pupils including my son have been excluded, the school believes they broke the cameras.”
He continued: “We have been told the cameras have been put into the toilets for safety reasons because there have been fights and graffiti in the toilets. I don’t care what has happened, there should not be cameras in the toilet area.”
The surveillance in the toilets is “wrong on so many levels”, says one woman whose daughter is a student at the school.
She said: “I’m absolutely disgusted that CCTV has been put in the toilets. This is a breach of privacy.”
Concerns over the cameras have also been expressed on social media by students.
One student has claimed he was excluded from classes because of something he had posted on social media about the cameras.
The school has since defended the unisex toilets.
They claimed that the unisex toilet style is now being used by many other schools, before denying a student had been excluded for a post on social media regarding the CCTV.
However, they refused to comment whether he was suspended due to issues related to the cameras in the toilets.
