Fingerprinting Students: Leave Those Kids Alone

"The important thing is not to stop questioning," reads one of the banners on a civil liberties group’s website from Britain which has been questioning the use of biometrics or "kiddy printing" in schools for children as young as five.

With the debate on fingerprinting students and storing their photographs scaling new heights, latest figures show that two million children in 6,000 schools in the UK have been fingerprinted in the name of a "surveillance society".

The number is likely to touch six million with nearly 13,000 schools divulging this method to grant access to students to libraries and canteens.

The so-called "child-tracking" scheme has been lamented by parents who argue that school authorities should take prior permission and an "acceptance note" to fingerprint their child because the data collected from children under the age of 12 without parental consent contravenes the Data Protection Act 1998.

The Labour Government, who wants to go ahead with a national ID plan also faces a backlash from nearly 85 members of parliament who differ on this monitoring practice. Though the government rests its case on defending the method with the sole purpose of social security and thwarting child abuse, civil liberties groups call it an act of violation of privacy.

One man who has been vocal on this issue for a long time is David Clouter from LeaveThem- KidsAlone (a campaign group against fingerprinting), who, along with thousands of parents and other social groups, is demanding a law to stop the practice.

In an e-mail interview with XPRESS, Clouter said: "It’s not mandatory to fingerprint a child but it’s unregulated. Therefore, schools are free to fingerprint whoever they want. And we’re pressing for a change in the law."

Clouter said the group’s fight is against the use of the system and not the security in general. He said to fight the practice, the group has invited parents’ opinions, blogs and debates through its website to put the message across a wider spectrum.

‘Risk Of Identity Theft’

"We are in constant touch with the MPs and members of the House of Lords. Our website receives thousands of visits and we do leaflets and meetings for parents. Apart from that, we publish articles in school journals," said Clouter.

"The government’s failure to safeguard personal data puts everyone at risk of identity theft. The more information they collect and the more data that is shared between departments, the greater the risk. The system at an early age makes them perceptible to 24x7 state surveillance."

Finger Food

In the UK, biometrics is popular in schools for cashless catering systems, enabling parents to deposit money into students’ catering accounts.