The Association of School and College Leaders (ASCL) warned the move will cost the education system between £20m and £45m a year.Fingerprint systems that store only an algorithm-generated template rather than an image of a fingerprint pose little-or-no threat to a person's biometric privacy.
It is thought that around 30% of secondary schools use finger or face recognition for a number of reasons, such as allowing pupils to check out library books, pay for lunch in the school canteen or access certain school buildings.
Evidence suggests that in these schools that have so-called biometric systems, 99.8% of parents have no objection to it, the ASCL said.
On the positive side: for the student, fingerprint biometrics offer increased privacy* and safety**; the school achieves higher data integrity and increased operational efficiency. These benefits are not simply confined to the schools themselves. All taxpayers have a stake in the efficient use of educational resources.
If schools are unable to keep data secure, biometric template information is the last thing that should concern parents or civil liberties campaigners.
Schools also keep academic records, behavioral records, medical records & counseling notes which are much more sensitive than a string of binary gibberish that cannot be used to learn anything about a student.
*Privacy: If everyone uses a finger to buy lunch, no one knows who receives need-based subsidized or free lunches.
**Safety: No lunch money, no bullying to steal lunch money.
