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Friday, July 27th, 2007
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By Sarah Miloudi

SCHOOLS in Wales could fingerprint pupils as young as four without asking for parental consent first, it emerged yesterday.

Under new guidelines schools throughout Wales could opt to collect a child’s biometric data including their fingerprints, retina scans, hand measurements and typing patterns.

And because the Data Protection Act fails to specify that parental consent must be sought, schools could gather the information without parents’ permission.

Figures suggest up to 3,500 schools across the UK have already installed fingerprint scanners and use the information to monitor children’s attendance, access to libraries and to run cashless catering schemes.

Now those scanners could be rolled out to schools in Wales. But the Welsh Assembly Government has said the decision to introduce fingerprinting will be taken by individual schools, rather than WAG implementing a blanket policy on the use of biometrics.

Any school wishing to collect biometric data will have to encode pupils’ fingerprint information and destroy the information once the pupil has left school.

But the guidelines introduced by British Education Communications and Technology Agency (Becta) have triggered concern among campaign groups.

They say gathering and retaining pupils’ biometric data could leave the children open to identity theft and if implemented, the scheme must be closely monitored to avoid security breaches.

David Clouter , spokesman for Leave Them Kids Alone (LTKA), said, “This seems to imply children as young as four may ‘give consent’ to be fingerprinted, so schools are not required to seek permission from parents.

“If a school wants to fingerprint a child for any purpose, parents should be informed and asked for written consent – as is required for a whole range of far less intrusive school activities.”

Alun Cairns, Shadow Minister for Education, stated that a rethink was required, and that the security risks associated with gathering such information could be serious and not fully understood at this time.

Kirsty Williams, Liberal Democrat spokeswoman for education, added, “I would need to be convinced there is a genuine reason behind the need to do this in schools, and I am not convinced other methods cannot be used.”

Teaching union NUT Cymru is also concerned, stating that while it could make school administration easier, children do have civil liberties that must be respected.

Primary and comprehensive schools in England and Wales can gather biometric data on pupils, suggesting children as young as four could be fingerprinted.

Research by LTKA suggests 3500 primary schools have already started fingerprinting pupils, and that 700,000 pupils have been fingerprinted without parental consent sought.

Iris scanning has also been introduced in some UK secondary schools without parental consent.

No schools in Wales are thought to have yet installed iris scanning or fingerprinting systems. But NUT Cymru has said it is aware of several comprehensive school governing bodies considering implementing such systems.

Headteachers are said to be hoping official guidance on the Becta report, due this autumn, will clear up confusion over whether parental consent must be sought for pupils under 12.

What is biometric technology?
Biometrics are physical or behavioural characteristics that every person has. These characteristics are unique to the individual.

Biometric technology covers a range of techniques used to measure and record these characteristics, and is often used by businesses and security organisations requiring confirmation of any individual’s identity.

Fingerprints are a typical example of biometric data, and are commonly used for identification . Other characteristics such as retina and iris pattern information can also be used in the same way, along with a person’s voice and facial shape.

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 27th, 2007 at 4:54 am and is filed under Surveillance, Civil Liberties & Human Rights News . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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