Education Business

In most cases where biometrics is used, technologies are catching up with their science fiction forerunners, though advances continue in all sectors aimed at ensuring entirely accurate recognition in the most difficult circumstances.
    
The concept is that a feature is digitally recorded in a database and compared with a sample taken at the point of ‘transaction’ - whether that is a purchase, a recording of attendance or simply allowing access. Biometric authentication therefore uses identity verification unique to an individual that cannot (except in the most extreme circumstances) be lost or stolen.
    
Biometrics can replace traditional personal identification numbers (PINs), passwords or other symbols used to establish identity and are frequently used in conjunction with other identification technologies - such as smart cards.

Accuracy
The more possibilities to identify there are, the more accurate the system has to be. If a biometric system is, for instance, used in a school with a 1,000 pupils, the ‘opportunity for choice’ of which pupil has a finger over a reader at any given time is so much smaller than, say a passport scheme dealing with millions. The greater the database the more difficult it is to be assured of a match, requiring more robust systems and techniques.
    
The value of biometrics for many institutional users is that once an identity has been established, users do not have to be put through other rigorous authentication processes in order to bring the system into use. They have only to present their finger, thumb, palm, eye or face to a reader, which associates this unique information with the identity already established.
    
Only part of the unique feature of the fingerprint is extracted from a scanned image and converted into a digital biometric ‘template’. This template is checked against the image generated each time a person places his finger on the scanner. Full fingerprint images are not stored and cannot be generated (‘reverse engineered’) from the template.

Use in schools
Biometrics has a number of uses in the education environment and the technology exists to produce highly workable and useful systems. In cashless catering, fingerprint systems identify students who are often using touchscreens to choose meals from an onscreen menu; as the choices are made the amount of credit in the student's account is reduced. These accounts can be topped up using machines with fingerprint access that take coins, notes and credit and debit cards, or parents can pay in advance over the Internet, or with cash at the school office. Limits can be set on how much can be spent in one day.
    
In this way, pupils on free school meals are indistinguishable from their peers thus avoiding stigmatisation. Other benefits are that students do not have to carry cash or cards that can be lost or stolen.
    
There are registration systems that use biometrics - again usually fingerprints - ensuring that as pupils have to be present in order to register there is no way that one pupil can register another. Where necessary, such systems can be tied in with access control, ensuring only authorised pupils can enter the premises. Time usually spent on registration can then be used more productively.
    
Biometric systems are also used in school libraries, often in conjunction with smartcards, and could be used to authenticate candidates in exams. Where students use laptops at their desks, fingerprint access ensures that they can see only their own work - and can continue unfinished projects from previous lessons.

Some organisations are looking at the possibility of carrying academic records on smartcards so that when students move from one institution to another it is easier to check their qualifications. These would be authenticated by the use of biometrics. In this case the original stored for comparison would actually be on the smartcard.

Authentication process
Because a number of factors can affect the image of the fingerprint captured - such as angle, pressure, wetness - these systems must ‘learn’ all the variations of an individual's print. This is usually done by raising a query when a partial match is found; a supervisor confirms the student's identity and the system remembers this change of angle, pressure or wetness for next time. In this way the system builds up to five variations on an individual's fingerprint so that no matter in what form the finger is presented, the system can still authenticate.
    
In uncommon situations where tighter security is required, such biometric technologies as iris recognition or palm reading - where vein patterns are checked - can ensure only approved academic and administrative staff have access to sensitive areas, or file stores. But while the technology might be in place - and is constantly developing - to provide such systems, there are socio-technical issues to consider over their operation.

Objections to fingerprinting
According the to Information Commissioner's Office, objections to fingerprinting in schools include the concept that it stigmatises those who have their fingerprints taken. It is felt to be indicative of mistrust and suspicion and is identified with being ‘treated like criminals’. Others are concerned that fingerprinting in schools will teach children that giving up important personal information, and particularly biometrics, to those in authority is perfectly routine and mundane. It has even been suggested that fingerprinting in schools is part of a concerted attempt to ‘soften up’ the younger generation for increased state privacy intrusion, including initiatives such as ID cards and DNA testing.  The ICO says that: "It is important that the information is used only for purposes specified when it is collected. For this reason biometrics applications should be self-contained systems, whose templates cannot readily be used by computers running other fingerprint recognition applications."              

Government agency Becta aims to utilise the benefits of technology to create a more exciting, rewarding and successful experience for learners of all ages and abilities, enabling them to achieve their potential. It has published guidelines for schools contemplating the use of biometric systems.
    
These include: "Schools should recognise that some parents may have concerns about what is planned. In the light of such possible concerns, it is good practice for schools to be clear and open with all parents and pupils when introducing the technology. This could involve explaining what biometric technology will be used, what is involved, what data will be held and stored, why it is required, how it will be secured and how long it will be retained.
    
"Schools should also reassure parents and pupils that they will not pass the data on to any third parties and explain how the personal data used will be kept safe. Finally they should reassure parents and pupils that all biometric data will be destroyed when the pupil leaves the school.
    
"It may be that some parents and/or pupils will seek to opt out from using the biometric systems. In this case schools may want to build into their plans the option for some pupils to have an alternative means of accessing the same services - for example smartcards."  
    
It is important, therefore, that developers and suppliers of biometric systems take note of objections and design in safeguards at the point of manufacture rather than attempting to provide safeguards later. In this way the power and value of biometrics will find its place more widely and more effectively in education circles.

About AIDC
The European Centre of Excellence for Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC) is a not-for-profit organisation supported by Yorkshire Forward, the regional development agency, with a mission to be an authoritative, independent and non-commercial source of information about AIDC technologies such as bar coding, RFID, smartcards and biometrics. It has a base in Halifax where there is 1,000 sq m of space dedicated to demonstrating the technologies in live applications - including a next Generation Learning classroom in conjunction with Becta - and an office specialising in smartcards in Sheffield. Companies and organisations can visit the Halifax site and discover the value of AIDC for their own applications by actually seeing and using data capture devices. 

For more information
www.AIDC.org