{"id":654145,"date":"2026-06-16T15:58:51","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T13:58:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=654145"},"modified":"2026-06-16T16:14:35","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T14:14:35","slug":"gauteng-plans-ai-cameras-in-school-classrooms-to-keep-violent-kids-in-check","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/government\/654145-gauteng-plans-ai-cameras-in-school-classrooms-to-keep-violent-kids-in-check.html","title":{"rendered":"Gauteng plans AI cameras in school classrooms to keep violent kids in check"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Gauteng education MEC Lebogang Maile has announced plans to strengthen school safety in the province, which could include equipping classrooms with AI-powered cameras and biometric access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a presentation on 2 June 2026, Maile said his vision included armed response systems to protect learning environments from misconduct, violence, ill-discipline, and other unlawful acts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gauteng education spokesperson Onwabile Lubhelwana shared further details on the plans in an interview with Newzroom Afrika<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“There’s been intervention in schools. These include having cameras, but the MEC wants to take it further,” Lubhelwana said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“He wants to take it to the extent of having biometric systems and AI-powered cameras, which recognise the face and some other body parts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lubhelwana explained that corporates had approached the department, including a “big company” that previously renovated a school.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Some are coming to assist in terms of tech, such as cameras inside the classroom. Not everyone is looking for a tender; many are patriotic and want to help make the schools work,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through these interventions, the Gauteng Department of Education, Sport, Art, and Culture hopes to bring an end to the spate of violent incidents observed at many of the province’s schools.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The schools are a reflection of society. There is a spillover of what is happening in our communities. It is reflected in our schools,” Lubhelwana said in another interview with SABC News<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Part of this includes exposure to violence. This includes domestic violence, it includes children being exposed to criminality in their communities and unfavourable upbringing spaces.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said the department had observed more incidents of learner-on-learner violence and of learners attacking teachers or other school workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked about the proliferation of weapons such as guns in schools, Lubhelwana said the MEC was calling on the community to volunteer in schools to conduct search procedures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI-powered cameras can detect criminals and prevent break-ins<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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While the effectiveness of AI-powered cameras for discipline in Gauteng schools remains to be seen, the technology has proven itself highly effective in home and neighbourhood security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

AI-powered smart security cameras have enabled security providers to transition from reactive monitoring to predictive analysis, enabling them to stop crimes before they happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vumacam is likely the largest operator of an AI-based CCTV camera system in South Africa, with a network of more than 7,000 streetpole-mounted cameras across Gauteng.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Gauteng Provincial Government and Johannesburg Metro Police Department are already using this system, alongside numerous private security companies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Security firm Axon Security has explained that CCTV and AI surveillance systems significantly reduce human error and bias through advanced algorithms and deep learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“This ensures more objective security and monitoring, promptly identifying and addressing potential threats,” it said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recent research by the University of South Africa’s Tladi Maja and Kris Pillay showed that these systems enabled the automated analysis of vast data streams to flag suspicious activity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most of these systems have been designed to recognise faces and number plates, as well as detect anomalies in real time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“AI-powered CCTV systems are used to automatically flag unusual activities, reducing the need for manual monitoring and enabling quicker response times,” the researchers said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“AI-powered surveillance systems can automatically detect unusual activities or unauthorised access,
reducing the need for human monitoring and increasing response efficiency.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Examples of local AI-powered CCTV software systems include AVLytics and GhostHome, which target the different layers of the South African security ecosystem to ensure proactive crime prevention.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These two companies took two different approaches to AI-powered home security cameras and the rapid deployment of response teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

GhostHome uses an end-to-end ecosystem approach to home and estate security in South Africa, and it leverages a combination of visible-light cameras and thermal imaging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This enables the cameras to detect human movement in complete darkness, heavy rain, fog, or smoke, with high levels of accuracy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gauteng Provincial Government wants to install high-tech systems to prevent violence in the province’s schools.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341076,"featured_media":654170,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18668],"tags":[57786,35793,105917,55772,7719,105916,9695,9365,36550,9363,105936,105937,15787,45957,57440],"class_list":["post-654145","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-ai-cameras","tag-artificial-intelligence-ai","tag-biometric-access","tag-cameras","tag-cctv","tag-class-rooms","tag-crime","tag-gauteng","tag-gauteng-education-department-gde","tag-lebogang-maile","tag-onwabile-lubhelwana","tag-school-violence","tag-schools","tag-violence","tag-vumacam"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654145"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341076"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=654145"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654145\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":654371,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/654145\/revisions\/654371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/654170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=654145"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=654145"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=654145"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}