Mumbai: Dentsu Lab, D.A.V. Public School and Classteacher Learning Systems have unveiled ‘Bullying Decoder’, an AI-led innovation designed to identify and address patterns of verbal bullying by leveraging existing CCTV infrastructure in schools.
While CCTV systems—mandated by the Central Board of Secondary Education—have traditionally enabled visual monitoring in classrooms, the accompanying audio feeds have largely remained unused. This has created a significant blind spot, as verbal bullying—often subtle and embedded in everyday interactions—continues to go undetected and unaddressed at scale.
‘Bullying Decoder’ aims to bridge this gap by transforming unused CCTV audio feeds into an intelligent system that analyses tone, emotional intensity, and repetition in classroom conversations. The system converts these inputs into anonymised, aggregated insights presented through a structured dashboard, enabling schools to better understand behavioural patterns across grades without tracking individual students.
The solution is designed with a strong emphasis on privacy, ensuring that no individual conversations are stored or identifiable. Instead, it focuses on broader classroom sentiment trends, helping educators and counsellors move from reactive responses to proactive, empathy-led interventions.
By identifying grade-specific behavioural patterns—such as body shaming among younger students or more complex verbal aggression in older groups—the platform enables schools to tailor counselling approaches that are more contextually relevant and effective.
Dr. Anita Gautam, DAV Principal said, “Bullying Decoder reinforces our belief that every child deserves to feel safe, valued and understood. It strengthens our ongoing efforts to nurture a culture of empathy, awareness and timely support, ensuring that every student thrives in a caring and inclusive environment.”
Abhishek, Business Head, Classteacher Learning Systems added, “We don’t see ourselves as just an ed-tech company. We see ourselves as problem solvers, constantly innovating, evolving, and exploring new ways to respond to the real challenges students face. Our goal is not simply to deliver products, but to create solutions that genuinely improve the learning environment.”
Gurbaksh Singh, Chief Creative Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, South Asia, dentsu said, “Innovation isn’t always about adding more; sometimes it’s about reimagining what already exists. By tapping into the unused potential of existing school CCTV systems and embedding AI into them, we’ve transformed them into an intelligent system that can sense and respond to students’ emotional realities, making verbal bullying visible. The result is a human-centric solution that integrates seamlessly into classrooms, helping schools identify and address bullying early.”
Narayan Devanathan, President & Chief Strategy Officer, South Asia, dentsu commented, “At Dentsu Lab, we build solutions grounded in real-world constraints but designed for scale. In a system serving over 250 million children, even small improvements in how we understand behaviour can create meaningful, lasting impact.”
Early adoption of the solution within the D.A.V. Public School network has already indicated positive shifts in classroom interactions, with increased awareness around respect, sensitivity, and inclusivity during the 2025–2026 academic session. The initiative is expected to expand across more branches, signalling a move toward more emotionally aware and data-informed learning environments.
