School’s scanning system does away with cash

Jul 5 2008 by Sam Casey, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

School’s scanning system does away with cash

PUPILS are being fingerprinted for food at a Huddersfield school.

All Saints Catholic College at Bradley Bar has followed other Kirklees schools in introducing a biometric payment system to replace cash for school dinners.

Students have had their fingers scanned to set up accounts like bank accounts.

They contain information about cash balances and what they have bought and when.

Instead of handing over cash at the till the pupils press their finger against a machine which recognises the print and relays the information.

A spokeswoman for the school said: “Each individual’s finger and thumb prints are unique.

“The biometric cashless system will store only a section of the print as a unique number and not as an image.

“Each student will have that unique number stored on a central server.

“This is done by scanning the finger or thumb with a non-evasive electronic scanner, which passes light over the finger or thumb.”

The system is designed to make serving quicker and more efficient.

Information on the purpose for which fingerprints are gathered and who will use the data is provided to students to comply with the Data Protection Act. The college says it will “only be used by parties directly associated with the college”.

Pupils not wanting to use the biometric system have been given PIN numbers.