Monitoring schoolchildren

Hundreds of schools have begun monitoring children in the past few year with the United Kingdom intent on stepping up the pace in the new year. Biometrics and CCTV are the most prevalent with many schools in Scotland planning on introducing or expanding schemes in the coming year.

New figures reveal that ten primaries and secondaries in the Lothians are using the “worrying” ID systems as part of everyday school life. This makes up 15 per cent of the total usage in Scottish schools.

In the Capital, four primaries and one secondary are using the biometric identification systems for their electronic libraries. The scheme requires school library staff to scan pupils’ thumbprints against biometric readers before allowing them to check out books.

“Public bodies have shown in the past that they are not always to be trusted with sensitive personal data. If the finger – or palm prints – of children as young as four years old got into the wrong hands, it could have significant consequences. Do we really want this sort of intrusive information taken from young children?”

In West Lothian, two schools are using biometric ID, with one secondary school in West Lothian putting a “hand pad system in place for primary school pupils housed there temporarily to gain access to toilets”.

“Our guidance recommends that any local authority or school seeking to introduce them should consult parents at the relevant school, seek consent and allow opt-outs.”

The use of CCTV in the United Kingdom is also worrying. Children are now being spied upon when they use the restrooms and changing facilities at school.

Figures from one union found as many as 85 per cent of teachers reported the use of CCTV in their schools and one-in-10 said cameras had even been placed in toilets.

The latest study, which features contributions from a series of academics, said: “The use of CCTV has migrated from perimeter security and access control to monitoring pupil behaviour in public areas such as in corridors and playgrounds, and to more private realms such as changing rooms and toilets.”

Despite the fact that cameras are only supposed to be used in exceptional circumstances, many schools are using them to monitor teachers and low-level offenders. The school officials are, in fact, using the cameras as a control measure both on the students and the teachers, creating an uncomfortable and hostile working and learning environment.