Anger at school food fingerprints

A Newport Pagnell school has been criticised after taking fingerprints of its pupils.

Ousedale Secondary School said it has received a string of angry, anonymous letters of complaint about the scheme which will replace plastic cards in allowing students to buy food from the canteen.

A digital image of the finger is taken and converted into a binary code, when the child presses their finger on the scanner it activates their account allowing them to buy food.

One15-year-old pupil who contacted the paper by email said: "The Government is so insistent on snooping on us all to a point where they are fingerprinting us to buy our lunches. They are treating us like criminals."

Ousedale deputy head Andrew Burton said he was surprised by the adverse reaction.

"We are not the first school in Milton Keynes to use this," he said.

"We still use cards, but they can go missing, broken or lost and it's possible kids could get bullied for them.

"It's the way it's going - a lot of schools additionally use it for registration though there are no plans to do this at Ousedale.

"At no stage is an image of the finger or thumb taken and stored.

It's totally internal so nothing can be lost.

"We hope it will be in place by September.

"It should reduce cost to parents and for the school it will be more efficient."

Hazeley Secondary School has also seen the introduction of the technology - which allows parents to electronically monitor what their children eat.

Hazeley headmaster Iain Denning said that his school received no complaints about the scheme.

Councillor Sandra Clark, who is in charge of children's services in the city said: "I question the need for finger prints for dinner money," she said.

"I think its a bit extreme. I'mvery much for protecting people's identity."

■ Do you think the fingerprinting scheme should or shouldn't be used in city schools? Let us know your views by e-mailing editor@mk-news.co.uk