<http://news.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;sessionid=IF0PGSNPI5OKTQFIQMGCNAGAVCBQUJVC?xml=/news/2004/12/01/ntru01.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/12/01/ixhome.html> The Telegraph Class fingerprint scans to stop truancy By David Sapsted (Filed: 01/12/2004) Pupils at a secondary school are being "fingerprinted" before each lesson in a bid to combat truancy. All 1,300 students arriving for classes at Impington Village College, near Cambridge, have to place their fingertips on a scanner, which then registers them as present. The scheme is the first of its kind in the country. If a pupil does not check in, the system sends a text message or e-mail to his or her parents, telling them their child is absent. The school telephones parents who do not have a computer or mobile phone alerts. The system, which uses reference points taken from each child's finger rather than a complete fingerprint, has been supplied free on an experimental basis by a technology company. If the scheme is a success, it is likely to be extended to verify the identity of examination candidates; make head counts on school trips; control the issuing of library books and monitor access to school buildings. A spokesman for Cambridgeshire county council said yesterday: "We are impressed by what we have seen so far. The system has many benefits." The technology will also be used to introduce a cashless catering system, which will avoid the need for pupils to carry money and help to increase security. Jacqueline Kearns, the warden of Impington Village College, said: "We are delighted with the new fingertip recognition technology. "It will revolutionise the way students register and will enable us and their parents to keep track of any who are late or absent. "Staff and students have embraced the new technology and we are looking at ways it can improve efficiency and pupil safety." -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah@ibuc.com> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'