Welcome to 2023, the year of AI with newborns like ChatGPT and a host of other AI infants with immensely promising future. The massive growth in social media platforms, particularly Tiktok and YouTube has spread the news of their birth and apparent benefits like wild fire. While ChatGPT is hyper active in every newsfeed now, it’s use will become as routine as Excel or PPT, since embracing AI or new tech is exponentially faster now because of global inter-connectivity.
The recent pandemic of COVID-19 has intensified demand for video surveillance and integrated electronic security solutions in educational facilities as schools and colleges struggle to safeguard their environment against the pandemic.Educators, students,and parents alike are anxious to get back to the traditional mode of educating students in person, instead of online classroom setting that has been the norm since the spread of COVID-19.
On the other hand, many healthcare and disease management experts and regulatory bodies have warned the high risk of transmission in any crowded environment, without implementing strict measures to prevent its spread.
There is also an innate need to improve situational awareness through innovative technology tools that can provide school management and security staff a seamlessly integrated view of dispersed systems. This can include touch-less access control in administrative areas to analytic based video surveillance integrated with temperature screening thermal cameras or face detection terminals to efficiently manage COVID-19 prevention initiatives, including safe distancing, occupancy limits, mask compliance, isolation measures, etc.
Educational institutions are also exploring ways to improve real time situational awareness throughout their premises and intensification of intelligent response as needed in any given situation in the classroom or on the playground.
Educational sector customers appear to be very keen in implementing innovative analytics to streamline their security operations without breaking their already stressed budgets and to ensure protection of their investment, which due to COVID-19 screening measures such as automatic fever detection, may seem like a temporary expenditure.
From improving early detection to contact tracing abilities, authorities in educational sectors are looking ways that will help their specific environment where the use of manual thermometer to screen for the possible presence of COVID related fever, is impractical and simply unmanageable. VNS has conducted extensive research by engaging directly with various primary and secondary education facilities and consulted with their management to conduct “proof of concepts” and came up with the following key requests, considered by school management to be fundamental requirements under the current scenario.
- Analytic based alerts and automated rapid response in case of positive detection.
- Utilization of existing video surveillance assets to improve situational awareness.
- Overall improvement of campus security through integration and implementation of access control and alarm systems with video surveillance and health management systems.
- Touch-less and rapid screening for possible fever for multiple, moving objects.
- Face recognition and mask detection that can be integrated with school attendance systems for both staff and students.
- Analytic based alerts to raise awareness on the social distancing needs.
Touch-less and rapidly deployable and mobile access control is more relevant than ever now, including in the education vertical, by removing the need for staff or students to touch readers, doors, and other access points physically may reduce the spread of communicable diseases. A biometric terminal with integrated thermal imaging technology with facial recognition and mask detection at a staff entrance that is integrated with campus attendance and video surveillance system, for example, can detect whether the staff member has any presence of temperature to prompt further screening before being allowed to enter the campus or particular area.