Biometric technology beginning to roll out in Australia. Photo: EHN

Parents have been told their concerns about privacy are ‘unwarranted’ after being advised children as young as five will have their fingerprints scanned at school as part of a controversial new biometric student attendance record-keeping program being introduced across Australia.

The system, an adaptation of previous programs that were suspended by the government due to privacy concerns, will allow students to register they are at school by placing their finger on a pad.

Parents from East Para Primary School in South Australia, the latest educational institution to adapt the new technology, havetold the Adelaide Advertiser of a briefing by electronic newsletter informing them of the fingerprint scanning system.

The program is the latest in a controversial history of attempts to implement biometric technology in Australian schools and has left privacy advocates outraged, citing increasing concerns with the unfettered use…