U.K. schools get rules on biometrics

Biometrics is permeating many aspects of society, so it is not surprising that school administrators want to use it, too. Schools have been using biometric systems for registration, meal payments, taking books from libraries, and more. The U.K. government has now given schools official guidelines to clarify how they can use and store pupils’ biometric information, such as fingerprints. The guidance says schools must destroy data when pupils leave school and not share any such biometric information. “Schools are well used to handling sensitive information like attendance registers, behaviour records and home addresses. But we are absolutely clear that they have to comply with data protection laws,” says Schools Minister Jim Knight. “That means that this data can only be used for its stated purpose; cannot be shared with third parties beyond this stated purpose; and it must be destroyed when a pupil leaves their school.”

The BBC reports that Conservatives MPs have criticised the guidelines as “weak” and failing to provide unambiguous guidance for schools. “This is long awaited but very disappointing guidance,” says Shadow Schools Minister Nick Gibb. “It is very weak as it neither requires schools to seek parental consent nor recognises the serious issues at stake with schools fingerprinting children simply for administrative convenience.”

The advice from the government’s school technology agency, Becta, addresses the kind of school administration systems which use a physical identification system, such as fingerprints. There are schools which use fingerprints to identify individuals arriving at school as a way to reduce truancy. Pupils would touch a fingerprint reader to show they were in school or in an individual lesson. There have concerns, however, about how such personal biometric data is stored or who else might have access to such information, and there have also been disputes about the rules governing the collection and use of such data from young people.

The guidance from Becta says that schools should not store biometric data after pupils have left — and that any information can only be used for the specific purpose for which it was given. So if children are asked to give fingerprints for use in a library system, the biometric information can only be used in that specific context. When children leave school, or the original purpose no longer applies, schools will be expected to destroy this personal information. Schools are also barred from handing over such information to any other organization. There is also a requirement for schools to have sufficient security to protect this data.