Fingerprinting children in schools

[Amethyst]

Re: Fingerprinting children in schools

If there is some form of crime, and it's suspected a pupil at the school is involved, would the police have access to the fingerprint database ?

[Jester]

Re: Fingerprinting children in schools

The Police are able to access any data subject to obtaining a court order. There are few exceptions. It's kinda like the way they can force entry into your home with a court order if they have good cause to do so.

It's one of the reasons that the previous government introduced the RIP Act which forced ISP's to keep all data on people that used their service (including what has been accessed, when, how long etc etc).

Data must be appropriately secured however and you have every right to ask how that data is being secured.

Unfortunately, this country is fast heading toward Big Brother in that they already can track almost every movement we make, intrude into our private lives and even put our DNA on a National Database whether one has committed a crime or not (if you want to know how hard it is to get yourself off the DNA database, then Google about the problems an MP had with this matter not too long ago).

The Government is already able to plunder just about any data source in the country for information about you. It's becoming a runaway train unfortunately.

[Amethyst]

Re: Fingerprinting children in schools

For reference Protection of Freedoms Bill 2010-11 - Legal Beagles Consumer Forum includes Biometric data in Schools

[winner12]

Re: Fingerprinting children in schools

Hi
Fingerprinting in schools in our area has just been introduced
It turned out we had no choice has their system for school meals (parent pay) does not enable cash payments anymore
I did stress at the time I was not happy but the majority voice won again we have to top up online using a credit (no no no) or debit card and pay for all school expenses this way.
We were given a letter on personal info and data protection but as a parent its gobbledegook and data catching again at an early age!

[Amethyst]

Re: Fingerprinting children in schools

My school argues it stops children being bullied and having money stolen/lost - but - I have to give her the money daily in cash to go and top up the machine, which is 10 feet away from where she pays for her dinner by swiping her finger (ffs) and the tills can't handle cash????????????- sometimes I give it to her weekly...there is no control on how much she spends if I topped it up monthly/termly at all.

We can pay online with debit/credit card but I don't as I try live on cash and avoid the bank as much as possible.

[winner12]

Re: Fingerprinting children in schools

Hi Amythest
I have to agree with you totally topping up on line was a minimum of £20 kicked up a fuss and got it down to a tenner we can pay cash at a paypoint but I live in the middle of nowhere and have to travel to my nearest one its 6 miles so where is the logic in that one thus forcing us to pay on line

[Caspar]

Re: Fingerprinting children in schools

I'm speaking with my ex- Headteacher hat on here. I can see no reason whatsoever for fingerprinting children and fear the data would be open to all sorts of abuse. For example, I know several schools who scan a fingerprint in order to get a book out of the library. Schools are not linked for this sort of data to an external server, so what if the computer storing this information was stolen? How many ways could the data be used?

Most sensitive data is (or certainly was) held centrally on much more secure services in the town hall linked to the school office. This strikes me as reasonable.

In terms of WHY some schools are doing it, the intention, as with swipe cards, is usually well intentioned. There are many, many parents who have children who are entitled to Free School Meals as they are on certain benefits. However, under the system run in the past, this has made those children very clearly identifiable by other children. While this is not such a major problem (though it can still be a problem) at infant / proimary school, at Secondary school it can lead to serious problems for the children involved and so they choose not to claim their free school meal, to which they are quite rightly entitled, rather than suffer the stigma of the system.

Having said that, there must be a sensible compromise here without too much thought. I can see swipe cards being good in that the other children don't know who's paid to top up and whose is free. However, having worked well over 20 years in schools these must be easily mislaid or lost. I guess the idea with fingerprints is that you can't lose them, but while I personally would have no worries about my daughter being fingerprinted if I KNEW it was held securely for things like free school meals, I would have massive concerns about what happened to the data held as I have zero trust for councils, local government and the way our data is held.

Changing the subject slightly, but still connected, many of you will know I've just won an eight year battle with the DWP. When put on the spot they could not find certain very personal data relating to my wife. Where has it gone? It's got to be somewhere and one day somebody with the wrong sort of mind might find it.

From the school's side, there is immense pressure on Headteachers to introduce certain things - possibly biometrics - into schools. One reason my school was massively oversubscribed was that I ran it on common sense and paid scant regard to the "orders" of the LEA - I did what I believed was best for the children which basically was my job, or that's the way I saw it. You would not believe how unpopular it made me with certain people in the authority, but the parents loved it!