School's 1,000 students have already registered their fingerprints. (Representative pic)
A high school in Australia has unveiled a controversial plan to scan students' fingerprints in order to combat ongoing vandalism.
According to The Guardian, the Moorebank High School in Sydney installed biometric systems at the entrance of toilets in June. But it was only recently that school principal Vally Grego notified parents via a newsletter that the new system would be implemented to "monitor students" movement during class time.
"The system will roll out in term three for the external student toilets only," she wrote in a letter to parents, as per the outlet.
"We are introducing this system to monitor students' movement during class time and to reduce the incidents of vandalism. We will then investigate the upgrade to the toilets," Ms Grego added.
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Further, ABC News reported that most of the school's 1,000 students have already registered their fingerprints to use the bathrooms during class hours. However, a Department of Education spokeswoman informed that the system is not compulsory. "If students or parents prefer, students can also access the toilets during those times by obtaining an access card from the office," she said.
The school's decision has been criticised as "extreme, unreasonable and disproportionate" by parents and a privacy expert. One parent blamed the school for a "lack of transparency" and said, "It just feels a little extreme and concerning with the level of surveillance and data being collected about our children".
Separately, program lead at Digital Rights Watch Samantha Floreani said there are many privacy concerns from storing students' data, especially if it lands in the wrong hands. She stated, "Students should have the right to go to the bathroom without having their biometric information collected, and [their] movements constantly monitored".
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Ms Floreani also warned that the risks posed by the system far outweigh any potential benefits. "If there were to be a data breach.. then suddenly you've got a student fingerprint being accessed by people who shouldn't have access to that information. And then that creates all kinds of risks for those students, for example, identity fraud, or it could potentially be linked with all kinds of other information," she explained.
The move set a dangerous precedent for other schools, and "contributes to the normalisation of surveillance," Ms Floreani added.