First York school to use fingerprint recognition technology (From York Press)

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First York school to use fingerprint recognition technology

11:00am Thursday 9th October 2008 in News Photograph of the Author By Haydn Lewis, haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk

The thumb-print recognition machine at All Saints’ RC School

CHILDREN as young as 11 are having their fingerprints used to register at a York secondary school.

The scheme at All Saints’ RC School is the first in the city using thumbprint recognition technology to register pupils as they turn up for school in the morning and after lunch break.

Head teacher Bill Scriven, said the school, which has 1,200 pupils, including a sixth form, consulted parents before introducing the scheme and, although there were one or two who didn’t want their child to take part, the majority use the system.

Mr Scriven said they introduced the fingerprinting technology because the schools split site on Mill Mount and Nunnery Lane made registration difficult.

It can be used to monitor truancy levels, although Mr Scriven stressed the school has extremely few children skipping classes.

Mr Scriven said he has implemented a system which allows students to enter the school and put their thumb-print on a machine.

He said: “The finger-printing was brought in at the beginning of term to help improve our registration systems and it has been a huge success.

“The school doesn’t have a huge database of children’s thumb-prints. The way it works is that the machine takes a scan and makes mathematical calculations based on each child’s individual print.

“We asked the parents before implementing the scheme and one or two didn’t want to do it and those children type in a number to the machine instead of using their thumb-print.

“I am really pleased with the way it has been working. It was expensive to install, but it means that children can go straight into their lessons and don’t have to wait to be registered by a teacher.

“We have a very low truancy rate at the school, but this is a way you can keep an eye on students and make sure they are in class when they should be.

“The system is quick and simple and the children really love it.”

But a parent group based in York has urged that schools be cautious about using fingerprint technology.

The chairman of the York-based Campaign for Real Education, Nick Seaton, said he can see no reason why fingerprinting needs to take place in school.

He said: “I would be wary of any system which uses fingerprinting of children in schools.

“To me it is brain-washing youngsters into getting used to state invasion into private matters and it would seem completely unnecessary.”

And one parent who contacted The Press, and who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “Why was it necessary to introduce this system? It substitutes a machine for a teacher – which is strange in a school that rightly prides itself on treating children as individuals and developing them as people.

“My son finds the new system an irritation that distracts him from his studies, and I know other children share his concerns. “This is not the first time a school computer system has caused problems.

“I speak from personal experience of automatic phone calls chasing me to explain my child’s absence when I had already telephoned to report that he was too ill for school.”

A spokeswoman for City of York Council said: “The decision to introduce fingerprinting technology is delegated to individual schools, but any scheme must comply with guidelines from the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

“The council expects that any proposed scheme is subject to consultation with, and the general approval, of parents.”

Schools harness technology

SCHOOLS in York are increasingly using hi-tech equipment.

The Press reported earlier this year that York High School introduced a system to text parents if their children are absent from school and the same system has been used to contact parents after a massive fire at the school last week.

Similarly, Manor CE School was one of several city schools – including All Saints’ RC – which The Press revealed last year to be using library systems that rely upon thumb-print recognition.

The practice of fingerprinting schoolchildren to speed up the attendance register and to give them easier access to libraries and school meals came under strong cross party attack in the House Of Lords, The Press reported last year.

But junior education minister Lord Adonis defended the increasingly prevalent practice, insisting that it was done only with the consent of pupils or their parents.

Lord Adonis said that, under the Data Protection Act 1998, the children – or, normally, their parents – must be given “fair processing” notices about the data and its proposed use.

Comments(37)

SELBY :-) says...
11:09am Thu 9 Oct 08

My cousins who attend a high school in West Yorkshire have had this scheme for ages! Seems York are a wee bit behind.
A good idea though!!