The core objective of any school is obvious: to provide a safe, secure, positive environment in which to enhance children’s learning. Children, teachers, and parents must all feel confident that they are studying, working, and entrusting their loved ones to an establishment that has the infrastructure and technology needed to deliver on this goal. And while a well-equipped school from a teaching perspective is certainly a significant part of the equation, video surveillance and related communications technology also plays a key role.
Schools provide some unique challenges in comparison to other working environments. Let’s be honest, the arrival (and departure) of dozens if not hundreds of young students within a few minutes of each other is never the calmest or most organized of activities! It’s important that schools can ensure that only those students supposed to be there are indeed in the school. And anyone who’s spent any time in a school outside the classroom, will know that the day is defined by periods of calm and quiet, punctuated with times of movement, interaction, and high degrees of excitement.
Multiple roles for video surveillance
Unfortunately, not every interaction between students or, indeed, between students and teachers, is a positive one. Comprehensive, visible video surveillance can not only act as a deterrent to bullying and violence, but can help in identifying where situations are escalating, allowing fast action to be taken. Furthermore, when combined with audio products such as horn speakers, school administrators can communicate quickly and directly with students, diffusing situations, letting people know that help is on the way in case of accidents, or simply making important announcements to give some order to student movements.
Looking forward, schools will be able to use their video surveillance solution for applications beyond safety and security; for instance, in response to poor weather conditions, to monitor and optimize energy efficiency, and to improve the flow of students throughout the school.
Innovation in even the most established of schools
One example of a school that is bringing the benefits of video surveillance to its campus is Rixin Elementary School in Taipei, Taiwan. Though established more than a century ago, the school continues to push forward with a modern technology infrastructure. The school installed a new network video surveillance system, aiming to improve campus surveillance and deliver real-time alerts which would allow security guards and staff to monitor real-time videos easily and react swiftly to any potential incident.
With a limited number of staff at the school, it is essential that the solution supported them in viewing high-quality video from any location. Through the support of a convenient mobile viewing app, which allows users to watch live view or playback on their mobile phones, real-time safety protection is achieved. Meanwhile, the system setup and fine-tuning can be done easily via the simple, intuitive interface, allowing the school to perform the security management task in a more efficient manner. As Sheng-wei Wang, the school’s Director of General Affairs explains: “Even teachers with no IT background are able to monitor and manage campus security with this simple surveillance solution.”
As Rixin Elementary School demonstrates, schools of any size can benefit from high-quality video surveillance systems. Axis offers a wide range of solutions, including AXIS Camera Station, which can support the majority of video surveillance needs for smaller and medium-sized educational establishments, and can be integrated into existing security systems. Easy to set up, manage, and operate, AXIS Camera Station is being used in thousands of installations around the world.