Sarah Teather opposes school fingerprinting

No, she has not come out against messy methods in art classes. It is far more serious than that.

The Register reports:

Shadow ministers for the Libdems (sic.) and Conservatives have condemned schools that fingerprint children.

Liberal Democrat shadow education secretary Sarah Tether (sic.) and Conservative shadow minister for schools Nick Gibb spoke out on Teachers TV. The issue is coming to a head because parents are preparing a case against schools that have installed fingerprinting systems over the summer and started fingerprinting children without their parents' consent.

"They should not be doing this," Gibb said of fingerprinting schools. "They should find another method of identification for borrowing library books."

He said there were serious civil liberties issues about a government that amassed databases of people's fingerprints.

Tether (sic.) told Teachers TV: "Fingerprinting three year olds to borrow library books is clearly excessive and completely over the top. There's a serious issue here. The government must get some legal advice."

Found via ARCH blog.