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LONDON - Almost six million children at 17,000 British schools could have their fingerprints taken, intensifying fears of the growth of a "surveillance society" where personal information is gathered from cradle to grave.
As soaring numbers of schools require pupils to have biometric checks to register in the
morning, buy canteen food or borrow a book, it emerged that less than one quarter of local education authorities have banned collecting fingerprints.
The rest either allow it or have no policy on the issue, potentially enabling headteachers to gather biometric data from about 5.9 million English schoolchildren as young as 4, without telling their parents.
The loophole has provoked a civil liberties row, with the Government facing demands to introduce a code of practice to prevent such information being collected without permission.
Plans are already under way to hold details of all children in a single register to be launched next year and Prime Minister Tony Blair has said he wants all youngsters monitored for signs of criminality.
The number of schools that could potentially fingerprint pupils was obtained by the Tories in freedom-of-information requests to all English and Welsh local education authorities.
Damian Green, Tory home affairs spokesman, said: "This is disturbing. Most parents would be horrified to know their children might be fingerprinted without their knowledge and without knowing what happens to that information in the future. As a country we need to wake up to what's happening."
Thousands of schools have already bought software to record the biometric data of youngsters, including fingerprints and photographs. It is used for smart cards to speed up taking the attendance register and give children easier access to libraries and meals.
The growth in the technology - without safeguards on how the information is stored or deleted after a child has left their school - has aroused controversy.
Gloucestershire County Council has ordered an investigation after discovering that at least 17 of its primary schools were fingerprinting children as young as 4.
There have also been protests at primary schools in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, and Kendal, Cumbria, after it emerged that pupils were allowed to borrow books only if their fingerprints were on record.
Phil Booth, spokesman for the NO2ID group, said: "As fears grow about adults' biometrics being taken, now the next generation is being targeted before it even leaves primary school."
Pippa King, a Hull teacher who is campaigning for tighter controls on fingerprinting in schools, said: "Our children are going to grow up in a world where biometrics are important. They need to know they have to be careful with their personal information and be in control of it. I don't think making children desensitised to that is a good thing."
Seventy-nine MPs of all parties have signed a Commons motion registering alarm at the growth in numbers of schools collecting biometric data.
It has also been condemned in the Lords, where the Liberal Democrat Baroness Walmsley said: "The practice of fingerprinting in schools has been banned in China as being too intrusive and an infringement of children's rights. Yet here it is widespread."
The Tories are demanding a four-point code of practice. It would ban fingerprinting without permission from parents, code data to guarantee confidentiality, ensure information is used only for purposes specified in advance and require it to be destroyed after a child leaves.
- INDEPENDENT