Two dozen schools in Gyeonggi Province have been caught installing monitoring devices in private areas including restrooms in violation of regulations, authorities said Friday.

The Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education carried out an investigation into 177 schools from April to June and discovered that 25 schools operated CCTVs in a way that undermines the students’ privacy or basic human rights.

According to the education supervisory body, one middle school was operating four CCTVs inside school restrooms since February last year. “We installed CCTVs in school restrooms to prevent vandalism of toilet doors and school violence,” the school said. Students were unaware that they were being monitored and teachers could watch them in real-time through CCTVs.

In August last year, one elementary school set up four CCTVS in school hallways that captured students’ conversations in a bid to prevent school violence. The installation, which violates related regulations, was made without any discussion with students or parents.

By Yoon Ha-youn, Intern reporter

(yhayoun@heraldcorp.com)