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Parents face camera ban in schools
EDINBURGH, Scotland -- Politicians in Scotland have issued a controversial ban on parents filming and taking photographs at school concerts in a bid to crackdown on paedophiles. Education chiefs at Edinburgh City Council introduced the unique guidelines after hearing how paedophiles across the UK had been caught in possession of photos and videos of school plays. It means that any parent wanting to record their children in Christmas nativity plays and pantomimes have to seek the permission of the parents of every child in the class. Staff at all 156 council-run school and nurseries in the Scottish capital have been told that if one parent refuses to fill in a consent form, then other parents will not be allowed to film events. The council has told parents that school staff will be allowed to film plays and edit out youngsters not permitted to be recorded. A council spokeswoman told the UK Press Association: "We believe we are the first local authority in the country to introduce written guidelines in relation to the videoing and photographing of children in this way. "Authorities have to recognise the risk of paedophiles. This has been introduced purely as a precaution, there has not been a rise in peadophile cases in the city our knowledge. "However we have heard of cases in Scotland and England where paedophiles are found with video footage taken at school plays." She added: "The recording of particular individuals in events such as nativity plays has various implications in terms of the Human Rights Act and the Data Protection Act. "We think this is a common sense approach to a problem which exists across the UK." Last month, a school in England wrote to parents instructing them not to bring cameras and video recorders to the nativity play for the same reason. One local Conservative councilor derided the decision at the 94-pupil Sundon Lower School near Luton, southern England. "It's political correctness gone bonkers," said councilor Richard Stay.
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