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BIOMETRICS IN
EDUCATION
STUDENT TRACKING/SCHOOL LUNCH LINE
BAYOMETRIC
MARCH 10, 2017
Written & Compiled By
Danny Thakkar
CEO & Co-Founder
“ Biometrics in the U.S. education sector is set to become a $70 million market by 2019. That’s a growth rate of almost 30%.
” TECHNAVIO A leading market research company.
BIOMETRICS IN EDUCATION
Bayometric
1743 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA, 95126
t. 877.917.3287 (USA)
t. 408.940.3955 (INT)
INTRODUCTION
Biometric technology is an evolving field and is
increasingly becoming more powerful and cost-
effective. It is no longer limited to just high
security government and banking applications
but also making inroads into the education
sector. Educational institutions understand the
need for security and accuracy in student
attendance tracking and hence look for a fast,
reliable and cost-effective solution.
Image 1: The first reported use of biometric systems in U.S. schools was at Minnesota's Eagan High School in March 1997. - Wikipedia
Biometric attendance systems are already
widespread in various industries such as
workforce management and biometric
technology is already an accepted method of
identification. Among all the biometric
technologies, fingerprint recognition is the most
widely used and is a cost-effective solution. It is
a better and faster identification solution as
compared to other methods such as swipe
cards and PINs. It can also prove to be an
effective tool in protecting student identity and
privacy.
WHY DO SCHOOLS NEED BIOMETRICS?
Students are required to identify themselves for
attendance and also for getting access to
services within the school such as in the
cafeteria, library etc. The commonly used
methods of identification in schools such as
paper based attendance; picture ID cards,
PINs, card punches and ofcourse visual
identification has their own sets of issues. A lot
of time and resources are spent by the teachers
and administrators to compensate for the
limitations of these methods.
Students regularly forget their cards or the
cards could be lost, stolen or mutilated. PINs
can also be easily stolen, lost or forgotten.
Visual identification is also a poor solution
especially for large group of students and is
tough to execute given the current security
concerns and reporting issues. Thus these
methods have loopholes and cannot prevent
proxy attendance, ID card thefts or errors in
attendance tracking. All these methods have an
effect on the education quality and time
wastage of teachers and administrators.
Biometric solutions can help streamline school
operations and also increase teaching time by
eliminating the unnecessary hours spent on
error tracking and reconciling of attendance
BIOMETRICS IN EDUCATION
Bayometric
1743 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA, 95126
t. 877.917.3287 (USA)
t. 408.940.3955 (INT)
data. Technavio’s latest report on biometrics in
the education sector in the US states that multi-
factor authentication and the availability of
single sign on solutions have supported the
rapid adoption of biometrics technology in this
sector. Analysts have thus predicted a growth
rate of close to 30% between 2015 and 2019.
How does biometrics achieve this? Biometrics is
an automated method of identification which is
based on the physical traits of an individual
such as fingerprints, iris, face etc. These traits
are unique to each individual and can help
distinguish a person from the entire global
population. These traits are inherent to the
individual and they cannot be stolen or easily
duplicated. These characteristics make
biometrics technology very popular for identity
verification.
WHICH BIOMETRIC TECHNOLOGY IS TO BE
IMPLEMENTED IN SCHOOLS?
Earlier it was unthinkable that a futuristic and
high cost technology like biometrics could be
implemented in a school environment. But the
rapid advancements in this technology and the
availability of biometric devices have made this
technology affordable and practical. Now
biometrics is being used in schools all over the
world.
Fingerprint recognition, facial recognition, retina
scan, voice recognition etc. are some of the
biometric technologies that are available
nowadays. Of all these technologies,
fingerprint recognition is by far the most
recognizable because of its familiarity, ease of
use, uniqueness and permanence. Fingerprints
are unique to each individual and remain
permanent throughout a person’s life. Also, the
widespread availability of fingerprint recognition
devices has made it a forerunner in the
implementation of biometric identification
systems.
All biometric technologies have their strengths
and weaknesses and the key is to finding the
right technology suitable for the application.
Fingerprint technology has a very high rate of
accuracy, easy to use, fast matching rates and
also cost-effective. It is one of the oldest
identification methods and has been
successfully implemented in a variety of
applications such as border control, banking
security, workforce management in factories
etc. Moreover, each of our ten fingerprints is
different from one another and also from the
fingerprints of every other person. Fingerprints
are unique to even identical twins. All these
characteristics make fingerprints an ideal
biometric trait for personal identification.
Compared to cards or PINs, students would
never forget their fingerprints nor can they be
lost or stolen.
HOW DOES FINGERPRINT RECOGNITION
WORK?
Fingerprints are composed of ridges and
furrows on the finger surface. The points where
the ridges end or cross each other are known
as minutiae points. It is the pattern of these
ridges and furrows as well as the minutiae
points that determine the uniqueness of
fingerprints.
The matching degree between the minutiae
patterns and furrows is one of the most
important factors in fingerprint identification
BIOMETRICS IN EDUCATION
Bayometric
1743 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA, 95126
t. 877.917.3287 (USA)
t. 408.940.3955 (INT)
and can help determine if two fingerprints are
from the same finger. The students need to be
first enrolled in the biometric identification
system by scanning the fingerprints. Sometimes
the scanned fingerprints are not of optimum
quality and hence image enhancement
techniques are used to remove the noise.
Unique characteristics such as minutiae
features are extracted from this enhanced
image and stored in the templates database.
For biometric student identification to work,
they should have been enrolled in the system.
Later when the student returns to be identified,
his finger is scanned again by the fingerprint
reader and the software compares this new
template with the already existing templates in
the database. If the templates match, the
student is identified and allowed access.
Fingerprint biometric identification is very fast
owing to the small size of the template. The
whole fingerprint image is not stored in the
templates database. Only the unique
characteristics such as the minutiae points are
extracted and stored which makes the template
size small. Thus the identification and matching
process is completed in a few seconds. No
fingerprint image is stored at any time and
recreation of fingerprint image from the
template is also not possible. Thus we see that
it is very accurate, secure and the fastest
biometric identification method.
DEPLOYING BIOMETRICS IN SCHOOL
ATTENDANCE SYSTEM
Deploying biometric identification solutions in a
school environment can provide immense
benefits in terms of convenience, safety and
security by helping to efficiently manage
student tracking and attendance. There will be
significant saving of time and money by the
improved operations.
A well-known application of biometric
technology is tracking the attendance of
students and teachers. Access control is an
important issue and being able to provide a
safe and controlled environment is critical to
the success of a school. Deploying biometrics in
school attendance systems enables the
administrators to provide accurate records of
persons entering and exiting the school
premises. Students, teachers and other visitors
can be accurately identified using fingerprint
recognition and the biometric attendance
system will automatically record the check-in
and check-out times.
A biometric attendance system can be installed
at the school front door or in individual classes
to identify students and teachers for every roll-
call. Such a deployment requires enrolling the
fingerprints of all students and teachers in
which the fingerprints are scanned, converted
into a digital template and stored in a database
which will later be used for matching and
verification. When a student or teacher scans
his or her fingerprint to enter the school, it is
compared with the fingerprint templates in the
database and access is granted only when
there is a positive match. Such a system
ensures that the individuals entering the school
actually belong there. Also the administrators
will have an accurate time-stamped record of
every person’s entry and exit from the school
premises.
BIOMETRICS IN EDUCATION
Bayometric
1743 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA, 95126
t. 877.917.3287 (USA)
t. 408.940.3955 (INT)
Attendance systems using fingerprint
recognition do not require complex technical
knowledge and individuals can start using the
system with minimum training. They simply
need to place their fingers on the scanner to
check-in or check-out of the school building or
the class. The process of attendance tracking
becomes faster and student’s identity and
privacy is also protected with the use of
biometric attendance systems.
The federal and state government provides
certain funding based on the number of
students who attend school each day. Thus the
administrators should be able to provide
auditable attendance records. Failure to do so
may prove very expensive to the school. Any
errors in attendance reporting will require the
school to return the thousands of dollars paid
as funding by the government sources. With
biometric based attendance systems,
administrators will be able to provide irrefutable
proof of student attendance. Students who are
not in appropriate classrooms can also be
identified in real-time using the period-by-
period attendance records. Moreover, teachers
of large classes such as physical education or
orchestra class will be able to utilise the entire
classroom period for instruction rather than
spending valuable time taking attendance. This
will result in increased productivity.
DEPLOYING BIOMETRICS FOR SCHOOL
LUNCH LINE
Earlier most schools used a PIN pad entry or
swipe cards in their cafeteria debit systems but
soon realised the problems associated with
these systems. Often, students forget their PIN
numbers or ID cards leading to longer waiting
times in the school lunch line leaving both the
staff and the students frustrated. Some
students are also entitled to a free or a reduced
price meal which is provided anonymously. So a
student who forgets his card might feel
somewhat embarrassed. In the worst case,
bullies might steal the PIN number or swipe
card and use it fraudulently to pay for their
meals. Thus we see that a school lunch line
POS technology should be able to address a lot
of areas. It should be able to provide quick and
accurate check-outs to students and also be
able to interface with back end accounting and
inventory systems.
Deploying fingerprint biometric technology in
lunch line POS systems will allow quick
transactions and smooth lunch line flow while
at the same time ensuring student
accountability and security. A lunch line POS
system based on fingerprint biometrics will
eliminate the need for students to remember
their PIN number or ID card when they get to
the register. In biometric POS systems, the
student simply places his finger on the scanner
for identity verification. The process is
completed in less than few seconds and the
transaction gets recorded. It is a quick, reliable
and accurate process which allows maintaining
the smooth flow in lunch line. Students who
sometimes get 20 minutes or less for their
lunch period can quickly get in and out of the
lunch line.
More schools are looking to adopt affordable
biometric technology in their cafeteria
management systems. Biometric technology
BIOMETRICS IN EDUCATION
Bayometric
1743 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA, 95126
t. 877.917.3287 (USA)
t. 408.940.3955 (INT)
eliminates wasted time and expenses by
boosting the accuracy and security of lunch line
POS transactions. Fingerprint recognition is the
mainstream biometric technology for lunch line
POS systems due to its inherent benefits and
cost effectiveness. It can also be easily
interfaced with existing cafeteria management
software and is a modern technology compared
to PINs and swipe cards. School administration
has the assurance that the students are safe
and moving quickly through the lunch line.
INTEGRATING FINGERPRINT RECOGNITION
TECHNOLOGY IN SCHOOL SOFTWARE
SYSTEMS
Schools looking to integrate fingerprint
recognition technology in their existing student
attendance system or cafeteria management
software can take advantage of Touch n Go. It
is a developer friendly biometric solution that
allows fingerprint technology to be integrated
into existing applications instantly and with no
learning curve.
Touch n Go provides the highest level of
security and a solid identity management
infrastructure for your applications. With Touch
n Go, fingerprint technology integration should
not take hours or months but can be
accomplished with just four lines of code. The
client and server installation takes just a few
minutes and the GUI for performing enrollment
and search is ready to use. Programmers will
also find it helpful as Touch n Go supports
various programming languages such as C#,
Java etc.
BENEFITS OF IMPLEMENTING BIOMETRIC
TECHNOLOGY
There are numerous benefits of implementing
biometrics in school management systems
which include the following:
With biometrics technology, school
administration can centrally and accurately
track student attendance records and prevent
proxy attendance and other errors of traditional
student attendance tracking systems.
It saves the time spent in recording class
attendance and rectifying attendance errors
and now teachers can use this saved time for
teaching which increases productivity.
It is a very fast and convenient system as
biometric attendance systems can scan
fingerprints in mere seconds thus allowing
students to check-in and check-out easily.
Biometric systems can also speed up the data
verification time thus saving administration time
and increasing efficiency.
CONCLUSION
We have seen how biometric identification
solutions can help streamline the operations of
school management systems and increase
efficiency. The main benefits of implementing
biometrics in education are accurate record
keeping, increased productivity, convenience
and also safety and security of the students.
BIOMETRICS IN EDUCATION
Bayometric
1743 Park Avenue
San Jose, CA, 95126
t. 877.917.3287 (USA)
t. 408.940.3955 (INT)
AUTHOR
DANNY THAKKAR CEO & Co-Founder
Danny Thakkar is the CEO and Co-Founder of Bayometric,
one of the leading biometric solution providers in the
world. He has been in the Biometric Industry for 10+
years and has extensive experience across public and
private sector verticals. Currently, he is chief evangelist for
Touch N Go.
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REFERENCES 1. Biometrics in schools – Wikipedia
2. Biometrics Market in the United States in Education Sector 2015-2019 – Technavio
3. Kids to Scan Fingers for School Lunches – FINDBIOMETRICS
4. Biometrics in Education – A Growing Demand – IriTech Blog
5. Fingerprint SDK vs. Touch N Go Fingerprint Software – Touch N Go Blog
6. The Value of Biometrics for Student Attendance Management Systems – M2SYS Blog
