Chabad school fingerprints pupils
Beit Hannah high school brings in biometric fingerprint identification device to check students' attendance. National Council for the Child expresses concern with new policy; school principal says students are happy
The new school year brings with it innovative (and questionable) methods of guaranteeing students' attendance as students of a Jerusalem high school found on their first day of school last week.
Pupils of the Chabad movement's Beit Hannah girls' high school in Jerusalem were surprised to find upon arrival that the school had installed a biometric fingerprint identification device.
According to reports, the educational staff has been forcing the underage students to identify themselves using this machine upon entering and exiting the school, and they were even warned that anyone trying to get out of signing in would be punished.
The school's principal Rabbi Peretz Bloy said the new system allows more accurate inspection in the school. Up until now, teachers have been forced to stand at the gate and handle the register on their own, which would take a long time in the 370-pupil school.
The principal also argued that the new system teaches the girls maturity and responsibility, since signing in was their own responsibility.
'Parents happy with decision'
Bloy said the parents committee agreed with the move, and that parents were pleased with the possibility of receiving a detailed report on their child's attendance at the end of each month. The parents committee even helped in the funding of the device.
The only students who had a problem with the new device were the problematic ones, the principal said.
"It's not fingerprinting like we see at the police stations, this is standard biometric technology that was purchased in a legitimate place," the principal stressed.
Dr Yitzhak Kadman, executive director of the National Council for the Child told Ynet that he was very concerned with Beit Hannah's new policy, saying it was an inappropriate method of checking attendance, adding that "the end in this case does not justify the means".
Kadman explained that the use of such technology means the school holds a database of every girl's fingerprints, which he said was not in line with information laws.
"Go figure who the school transfers the data to, who else is using it and for what purpose," Kadman said.
Kadman recommended "less intrusive and offensive" methods of checking attendance, such as a magnetic card that would bring pride to the student and could even give the student discounts at certain businesses.
