It seems that the Tories have finaly lumbered onto the bandwagon on kiddieprinting. Which is a good thing, but they are only 12 months behind UKIP. Nick Gibbs the Tory's shadow schools minister has, more than a week after it came out, commented upon the BECTA report on the schools fingerprinting scandal,
“This is long-awaited but very disappointing guidance. It is very weak as it neither requires schools to seek parental consent nor recognises the serious issues at stake with schools fingerprinting children simply for administrative convenience. The Government needs to look more carefully at the fundamental principles these issues raise.”Though I am pleased that they have at last noticed, these comments hardly fill me with confidence. There is no suggestion here that they are planing to make compulsory consent aong the Irish lines an aspect of their schools policy. Indeed to describe the BECTA guidlines as weak, and then to merely ask the Government "to look more closely" is pathetic. It is a pretty cut and dried case. Either you think that the mass fingerprinting of schoolchildren on spurious grounds is a god thing, or you don't, there is no middle ground.
3 comments:
Or maybe keep up at the front
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/17/mps_on_kiddyprinting/
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/109819/schools-fingerprinting-kids-without-parents-consent.html
Or maybe at the back
http://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/ViewArticle.aspx?SectionID=55&ArticleID=1735844
or maybe not:
"I am astonished to learn that fingerprinting of children is done at schools and for such a relatively minor matter of borrowing books from the school library. A major concern must be who would have access to this data and what happens to it after children leave the school. It is particularly wrong that this is being done without parents' consent" The Rt Hon David Davis MP, Conservative Shadow Home Secretary, 27th July 2006
The point is that your original post was clearly not accurate. Conservative spokesmen had not only just "lumbered onto the bandwagon on kiddieprinting". Nor was it true to say that there was no clear position on parental consent. Various shadow ministers have said unequivocally that parental consent should be a minimum requirement.
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