SCHOOL FINGERPRINT-SCANNING ROLLCALLS

Thursday 15^th November 2007

Rev Fred Nile, Leader of the Christian Democratic Party, has raised the question of fingerprint scanning being used in school role calls during question time in the NSW Parliament.

Reverend the Hon. FRED NILE: I ask the Minister for Education and Training whether it is a fact that the New South Wales Department of Education has authorised finger-scanning systems as a high-tech method of roll call in New South Wales schools. Is it a fact that the fingerprint logging system will allow students to fingerprint when they arrive at the school and can be used to monitor their moves throughout the day? How many schools have introduced or are planning to introduce this valuable innovation? How is it to be funded? What are the other positive results of this new scheme?

The Hon. JOHN DELLA BOSCA: The answer to the first part of the question is yes, the New South Wales Department of Education and Training has endorsed the trial of a system. It is in place at Rooty Hills High School at the moment, and I am advised that Rooty Hills High School has been trialling this system for about six months to record student attendance. The system, as the honourable member has already correctly described, is an electronic reader that matches a finger with a code and a photograph. Students place any finger on the reader and it acknowledges and records them as present. The software does not store fingerprint images, nor can fingerprints be retrieved from the system. It has advantages over swipe cards, which can be lost, stolen or transferred.

The electronic attendance system at Rooty Hill High School has been introduced with the support of the school community and is not mandatory. Some students report to the office and have their attendance recorded manually by staff. I know other government schools are using the same system. The Department of Education and Training does not particularly endorse this commercial product. That is a matter of normal policy. Any electronic system being used to record attendance needs to meet legislative and departmental requirements, especially those applying to relevant privacy provisions. Across the public school system, truancy is the cause of less than 1 per cent of absences on any given day, but if schools believe that electronic systems could help to monitor attendance more effectively and deal with attendance issues, that is an issue for the school community and the parent community, and our principals and executive staff will generally consult about that matter.”, stated Rev Nile.