It’s like (lack of) work from home politicies in that it’s forcing people to do things a specific way in a specific place even though it’s much less convenient AND much less efficient.
It’s in person surveillance because “right in front of” implies physical proximity where the teacher is watching, making some students unnecessarily anxious.
I get that you probably grew up in a more primitive time where such methods were the norm, but things change as society progresses and your industrial age solution to an information age challenge is likely to cause a lot more harm than good, if it even does good at all.