Say cheese, Mama's watching you online

Creches install CCTV cameras to enable parents to see how their children are doing

Worried how your children are doing at the creche whilst you flit from one meeting to another? Wish you had magic vision to ascertain that all is well anytime you feel like it?

Creches in the city are on a spree to install a technology that allow parents to watch their children play online.
A few creches have already installed CCTV cameras to separate themselves from the competition. Ravi Shahani, who operates Eurokids in Wanowrie, said, "A few other centres of our brand in Mumbai and Pune have already installed these cameras. But my centre is yet to get the clearance."

Increasing interest
The trend that started a year ago in Mumbai is also garnering attention in city creches. Swati Popat, director of Podar Jumbo Kids, a chain of pre-schools across India, said she had already called for quotations from various security companies for installing the system. "Initially, we were more interested in training staff rather than installing the cameras," she said. "But now we are interested."

Sukhdeep Singh Arora, MD of Checkmate Security Systems, which supplies the IP-based CCTV cameras to creches, said, "It is a simple technology wherein CCTV cameras are attached to a broadband connection. After this, parents are given access through a password."

However, all is not as simple as it appears. The technology is not without glitches. During installation, clients are given free access for five people. The problem arises when there are more than 30 children and only five passwords. "Everyone wants to use it at the same time and when the system gets busy, they blame the creches or the service provider. I have received many complaints." said Arora.u00a0

Also, the sound quality is not good and there is no zoom-in option for parents to see their child individually, said Popat.

Parents have to bear the installation, broadband and extra user access fees, all of which comes to Rs 1,500.