Worldcrunch *NEWSBITES

For some Italian parents, that morning drop-off is apparently just too much to bear.

Responding to both growing security fears and the everyday pangs of parenthood, a nursery school in the eastern city of Ravenna has installed a webcam system that will allow mothers and fathers to follow their child's every move.

Parents at the small "Pargoli" private pre-school will be given a password to allow them to check-in online to have a look at their little ones, and their teachers, who will be monitored by two cameras installed in the one-room facility.

The novelty comes in the wake of several episodes of alleged abuse by teachers in Italian schools, including one notorious case at the Cip Ciop school in the Tuscan city of Pistoia, where children were hit, locked in bathrooms and forced to stand still for long periods of times.

Giuseppe Greco, a Pargoli official, said the cameras "offer security and transparency" for both parents and school employees. But he emphasized that the system is not just about safety. "When parents leave us their child for 10 hours a day, it's nice if they have a moment on their lunch break to be able to watch what their child is doing," he said.

Indeed, the idea for the classroom webcam came originally from the parents themselves, but required necessary approvals from local authorities before being implemented at the start of this school year. Greco said there will be no camera in the school's bathroom, because of privacy concerns.

Read more from La Stampa in Italian

photo - Simone Ramella

*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations