Students in high schools across Britain are being watched, even while they're in the bathroom.

At least 207 high schools have surveillance cameras in bathrooms and locker rooms, according to a report by Big Brother Watch, a privacy rights watchdog group.

Lesley Bowes, principal at King Ecgbert School in Sheffield, said the cameras are necessary to protect kids from bullying and to catch them smoking in school.

"It's a way of safeguarding our children," Bowes said.

Defenders of the program say the cameras are placed in doorways and pointed at the sinks, not inside the bathroom stalls.

They said the images are reviewed only if an incident is reported and are deleted after 30 days.

Civil rights groups complain the cameras are an invasion of privacy.