Biometrics - For Schools?
Bangalore schools go high-tech with biometrics reports NewKerala.com. One of the classic case of ill-concieved projects in the name of using high-end technology.
In this specific project Karnataka govt. plans to track the student (and teachers as well) attendance in primary school and use the data so collected for planning other schemes of providing text books, mid-day meals etc. Sounds OK from the outset, if you don't spare a moment to think.
The data of student attendance is already being collected in the registers traditionally in every school and this with minimum effort can be collated from different schools to arrive at the data the govt. wants. Now, what is the point of using the cutting-edge biometrics for this simple purpose? That too, each day morning the kids should be made to register their finger prints, standing in a queue. Assuming one fingerprint sensor will be provided for each school, all students should wait for their turn to register their attendance wasting anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour depending on the school strength. And the poor kids has to stand in the queue in the early morning that too daily even without understanding anything, except that it would be fun for them to play with.
The report claims that the tamper-proof device will provide authorities accurate figures and data, which will be basis for government programme and allows for improvement of administration. I don't know how on earth did the department of public instructions arrived at a notion that traditional attendance keeping methods are inaccurate. And, 'improvement of administration' - vague words from which one never understands anything - it will be better it somebody explains, what will be improved and how.
The point is that the use of biometrics is totally unnecessary and an overkill to be used in schools (that too at primary level) to track the attendance, the data for which is anyway available traditionally. All this being done in the name of e-Governance.
Instead of this, why doesn't the Karnataka govt. use the same technology in the offices of various departments, including the 'department of public instructions'? This way they can track the number of hours the employees are present (not work) in the offices and even the system can be automated such that the salaries will be cut directly based on their attendance. But, I am sure, this will invoke loud protests from the goverment employees probably in the name of privacy intrusion and the authorities will be forced to pull back.
This is just one of the great schemes that uses the technology and surely there will be more such absurd schemes.
But, in the meantime, I have a better idea to track the student attendance.. The government can use RFID coupled with WANs and satellites for this purpose. RFID tags can be tied to the school bags (or the govt. can even decide to put it under the skin) of the kids, which can 'accurately' track them to their classrooms over a Wide Area Network (WAN). The data from different WANs can be collated in a central server, thro' satellite links. The data so collected, I promise will be 'most accurate' and students need not register their fingerprints.
Any takers?
In this specific project Karnataka govt. plans to track the student (and teachers as well) attendance in primary school and use the data so collected for planning other schemes of providing text books, mid-day meals etc. Sounds OK from the outset, if you don't spare a moment to think.
The data of student attendance is already being collected in the registers traditionally in every school and this with minimum effort can be collated from different schools to arrive at the data the govt. wants. Now, what is the point of using the cutting-edge biometrics for this simple purpose? That too, each day morning the kids should be made to register their finger prints, standing in a queue. Assuming one fingerprint sensor will be provided for each school, all students should wait for their turn to register their attendance wasting anywhere between 30 minutes to an hour depending on the school strength. And the poor kids has to stand in the queue in the early morning that too daily even without understanding anything, except that it would be fun for them to play with.
The report claims that the tamper-proof device will provide authorities accurate figures and data, which will be basis for government programme and allows for improvement of administration. I don't know how on earth did the department of public instructions arrived at a notion that traditional attendance keeping methods are inaccurate. And, 'improvement of administration' - vague words from which one never understands anything - it will be better it somebody explains, what will be improved and how.
The point is that the use of biometrics is totally unnecessary and an overkill to be used in schools (that too at primary level) to track the attendance, the data for which is anyway available traditionally. All this being done in the name of e-Governance.
Instead of this, why doesn't the Karnataka govt. use the same technology in the offices of various departments, including the 'department of public instructions'? This way they can track the number of hours the employees are present (not work) in the offices and even the system can be automated such that the salaries will be cut directly based on their attendance. But, I am sure, this will invoke loud protests from the goverment employees probably in the name of privacy intrusion and the authorities will be forced to pull back.
This is just one of the great schemes that uses the technology and surely there will be more such absurd schemes.
But, in the meantime, I have a better idea to track the student attendance.. The government can use RFID coupled with WANs and satellites for this purpose. RFID tags can be tied to the school bags (or the govt. can even decide to put it under the skin) of the kids, which can 'accurately' track them to their classrooms over a Wide Area Network (WAN). The data from different WANs can be collated in a central server, thro' satellite links. The data so collected, I promise will be 'most accurate' and students need not register their fingerprints.
Any takers?
posted by Baskaran Sankaran @ 09:51
1 comments
1 Comments:
ver well said.
Actually, this is another example of the sad scenario of technology driving the application rather than being other way round.
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