Almost a third of schools did not consult parents before enrolling students into biometric information systems during the last academic year, a report has claimed.
The study, based on Freedom of Information requests to more than 3,200 schools, estimates that fingerprints have now been taken from more than one million students.
The report has been compiled by the civil liberties campaign group Big Brother Watch.
It estimates that during the 2012/13 academic year, 31 per cent of schools were using the biometric information of their pupils without having sought parents’ permission.
Biometric data can include things such as finger or palm prints and iris scans. An increasing number of schools now take this information for things like cashless catering, building access, library book borrowing, and to record attendance.
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