"The
VC has received feedback from students saying that a large number of
teachers
still do not attend classes regularly. The biometric system
is necessary to
make them fall in line," a senior DU official said.
At
Delhi University in Delhi, India, teachers have been noted for their
significant lack of attendance. Just this past Saturday, the executive council
authorized the vice-chancellor to take appropriate steps in solving this issue.
Consequently, the vice-chancellor plans that by January 2013, a biometric
attendance system will be put in place for the teachers.
This system has already
been in place for all staff other than teachers for a few years now. And in
2009, it was suggested that teachers would take part in the system as well. In
response, after significant opposition by the teachers, the idea was
disregarded.
By now, however, the
teacher’s punctuality is too great of a concern to continue such behavior. The highest decision-making body of the university discussed the issue and passed the consensus permitting the VC to decide on the implementation of the system; it was announced that the attendance system should be introduced to ensure that a teacher "adheres to the teaching hours and days prescribed by the UGC (University Grants Commission) and the university rules".
The system requires teachers to “sign in” using a fingerprint or
retina scanning which will match the scan with the records in the databank.
Due to this decision, the teachers belonging to the Academics
for Action and Development group appealed to the VC not to go ahead with the
new system. For three weeks, they have been protesting outside of the VC’s
office, explaining that:
“The
biometric attendance will mark the beginning of the era
of slavery for the
teaching community where teachers
will be targeted and hounded by the Heads and
the Principals.”
This argument may be
exaggerated...some may even say foolish. After all, there should be no problem with a
school being able to “target” whether or not teachers are in their classes. The teachers should be there in the first place. However, as a separate argument, what authorizes the school to hold such
personal information about faculty like a fingerprint or retina scanning? Like
most anti-biometric authentication arguments analyze, what if such a system is
hacked into?
That's a fascinating event you've picked up on!
ReplyDeleteIt would be really interesting to hear the extended rhetorical arguments that this biometric system of identification would create "slavery". What is the history behind the Academics for Action and Development organization? Are they similar to a teachers' union?
I personally believe that the questions you bring up at the end are the most concerning. At the end of the day, the teachers need to be properly accounted for. If implemented correctly, biometric identification should only assure that the teachers are actually where they should be at the appropriate times, rather than somehow forcing them to work more than normal -- as suggested by the "slavery" that protesters apparently fear.
What are the potential issues regarding the security of these biometric identifiers? Do systems of encryption or data organization exist that would make this data useless outside of the context it was intended for?
Who would be interested in stealing this type of data? And, what would they use it for?
It would be really interesting to hear how this information could be used maliciously.
For example, see this article: http://www.fastcompany.com/1790444/dark-side-biometrics-9-million-israelis-hacked-info-hits-web
Although the author suggests that it was circulated among members of the underworld, the article doesn't go into depth as to what they may be used for. It is also somewhat interesting event in the light of Israel's constant security concerns. The government has demonstrated interest in creating a biometric system of identification, but has yet to actually implement it.
This is a really interesting issue because in a school we often worry about students' attendance and rarely about teachers' attendance. The fact that a university wants to implement a system to ensure professors are teaching their classes seems reasonable. Like a workplace that may require its employees to use timestamps to make sure employees arrive on time, teaching is a job that professors are responsible for. I am trying to look at a university as a workplace for professors, which means that their attendance is critical if they wish to be a professor at the university.
ReplyDeleteTo answer your question about whether or not the school has the authority to hold such sensitive data, I think so. Some companies, for example Google, take employee fingerprints and retina scans so that only very authorized people can enter secure areas of a data center. For a university to take fingerprints and/or retina scans can argue that it is the safest and most accurate way to ensure the presence of a professor since these biometrics are hard to forge.
Like with any system, there are always possibilities for a system to be compromised and information to be hacked. But I think that is a concern that has to do with the university's infrastructure rather than an ethical question of whether or not the university has the right to hold this type of sensitive information. The university probably knows information about a professor anyway (like their social security number) and anyone could argue that that kind of information could also be hacked.
Great blog post! I really enjoyed this one!
I had to get fingerprinted to coach debate at Palo Alto HS. I think that most people involved with public education in the US have to get fingerprinted.
ReplyDeleteFrom this post, though, it's unclear why they're going directly to biometrics with such opposition to the technology. Folks have been using time cards for decades to similar effect. Is there a reason why they haven't gone with lower tech solutions?
The question that first came to my mind after reading this post was, Where is the money coming from? Education is underfunded enough as it is without money going towards regulating teachers. This made me think about my high school, and how enraged the students would be if we learned that money that could have brought us new equipment or textbooks (or maybe even fixed our bathrooms that were falling apart) was centered on teachers.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure how many retina or fingerprint-scanning apparatuses each school would require, but I would guess that if the number was low, then teachers would waste time waiting in line to check in for work. So it seems that each school must purchase a healthy number of apparatuses for the process to function efficiently. The question Sam posed further highlights my frustration: if the money must be spent on teachers anyway, why not use cheaper technology?
Nice post. I like this system. Today mostly person used attendance system machine in business. Because after install this machine mostly have not face the problem employee or businessman.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting topic. I find it very interesting that "This system has already been in place for all staff other than teachers for a few years now". In other words, the basic principle isn't in question (or at least hasn't been), but the status of teachers makes them feel they should be treated differently from other staff. My sense is that the "slavery" slogan has to do with their feeling of having their teaching attendance mandated, while they've previously had more latitude. As Brian points out, do we think of them as "workers" who can be subject to time-clocking, or do they somehow transcend this status.
ReplyDeleteThere is an important context here. It has been the case in India (in lower schools, at least - I don't know about universities) that teacher attendance is a critical problem and a factor in bad educational results. There has been a trial of just using students with cameras as a basis for identifying absence.
http://www.povertyactionlab.org/evaluation/encouraging-teacher-attendance-through-monitoring-cameras-rural-udaipur-india
They report that in a pre-trial study, "teachers attended classes about 65 percent of the time."
Great blog! We service small to large businesses in a wide range of Biometric Access Control and Access Control System.
ReplyDeleteThis is the best Article.
ReplyDeleteIt is very interesting and informative post. It gives the interesting idea to make easy biometric security solution.
Biometric?\