Teachers have warned that the growing use of biometric technologies such as fingerprinting will make schools an �ideological battleground� on issues of civil liberties and privacy.
Teachers have warned that the growing use of biometric technologies such as fingerprinting will make schools an "ideological battleground" on issues of civil liberties and privacy.
The warning from the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) is one of the responses to a Scottish Government consultation on the use of biometric technology in schools.
A number of local authorities have introduced a variety of biometric techniques, such as fingerprinting and palm-printing, to register pupils at the start of the day, administer meals or use the library.
Although the information used is usually destroyed when the pupil leaves school, the practice of fingerprinting, linked with criminal activity, has been unpopular with some parents. There are also concerns about how secure the information is and whether it could be used in future.
In its submission to the consultation, the EIS said: "We are concerned that the use of biometric technologies may become an ideological battleground around individual civil liberties and rights to privacy set against issues of security, safety and general housekeeping in schools.
"While recognising that it will be for councils to decide whether to introduce biometric technologies, it is our view that there is a compelling need to consider the matter within the Scottish Parliament, particularly to consider wider issues of civil liberties and to consider opt-out."
Concerns were also raised by other teaching unions and parents' groups.
The Scottish Secondary Teachers' Association said: "Recent losses of data must raise concerns regarding the security of any system and the system for the removal of data relating to pupils who leave school would have to be very strictly controlled.
"This is likely to be a very expensive process, with heavy ongoing costs. We question whether this is best-value use of the limited resources available to any local authority at present."
The Scottish Parent Teacher Council said that, while it supported the use of certain biometric technologies in school, it was "totally opposed" to the storage of any data by schools or education authorities and of its use for anything other than a very limited and prescribed purpose. "It most certainly should never be made available to any third party, including the police. Any biometric data that is collected should be destroyed at the soonest possible moment," their consultation response states.
However, the body noted that, where parents had been properly consulted, they had mainly supported the use of biometric technologies in schools.
Education Secretary Fiona Hyslop launched the consultation in September after draft guidance on the use of biometrics was published.
"We know that some schools are already using biometric technology to provide access to school meals and for other functions. Security and privacy issues are a very serious concern in relation to the use of biometrics in schools and this must be fully addressed," she said at the time.
"This government is committed to putting civil liberties at the heart of public services policy. It is important that school pupils are made aware of the importance of their personal information in relation to any biometric service for school meals or library access.
"When using IT, we need to ensure mechanisms involved are designed and delivered in such a way that individual privacy is respected."
