Sonal Vij/NDTV

New Delhi, May 27: A porn MMS from a Delhi school that circulated on cell phones was a shocker for the children as well as parents. Then, only a few months ago, a student of Euro International School in Gurgaon was shot dead by two classmates.

And only last week, three boys with a bat fatally beat Gaurav Kumar Goyal, a resident of Ballabgarh in Faridabad, after they had an altercation while playing cricket.

All these incidents have made schools really worried. So, they are now hiring private detectives to track students they suspect of indulging in undesirable activities.

''They will hire detectives to know movements outside schools and not inside schools. Suppose a theft has taken place in schools and they suspect someone. Then it's very important to see what she/he is doing outside the school,'' says Taralika Lahiri, from National Detectives.

She adds that if the students are very irregular in the school, then they will inform the parents. The principal or the students hire detectives to check what the students are doing instead of spending the time in the school.

But are these schools really concerned for their young wards and their parents? Or is the snooping meant to weed out students who could give the institution a bad name? After all, it's the schools who pay the detectives' bill and, usually, parents are kept in the dark.

''In the last two-three years, there is 20% increase in the number. So, it seems that economic conditions is a very important factor. The children have a lot of money as both the parents are earning,'' says Taralika.

According to legal experts, moral policing is not just unethical, it's also against the law.

''You see, students too have a fundamental right of privacy under the Constitution and these kinds of efforts and tactics being adopted by schools amounts to encroachment of rights,'' says Anil Agarwal, an education lawyer.

Parents can move the high court under Article 226 and take an action against indulging in all this. This also reflects failure on the part of the school, he says.

So, are our children out of control? Or are they merely misunderstood young adults and products of the generation gap?

''I just don't think it's the right thing to do. You need to be friends with your children and you need to trust them. There is a generation gap. We all need to understand that,'' says a mother.

Even the celebrities feel the same.

''If schools are doing this, they are just trying to play safe. They'll find out something about the child and tell the parents that your child is involved in such activities and then suspend him. How many detectives will they hire? The parents need to stop giving obscene money to children. The parents and educationalist all need to analyse why is this happening?'' says children's writer Shohaib Hashmi.

Yes, it's something that needs to be addressed inside the classroom and at home not with the help of private, plainclothes policemen.