PEOPLE might normally associate fingerprint scanners with police stations or security units, where they are used to detect and track down criminals. But now they are appearing on school entrance gates in Shanghai.

Shixi Primary School was the first to install a fingerprint scanner, after re-opening for the new term in February. ¡°Every day, we install a new fingerprint scanner in at least two or three schools, including primary and middle schools,?said Mao Jieming, business development manager of Zhaobao Bio-tech Inc.

Fingerprint scanners for schools are called as xue ping bao (student safety systems). Chen Xiaofeng, business development director of the company, said that a series of terrible incidents taking place in China¡¯s kindergartens and schools last year aroused their particular attention.

¡°In order to avoid school calamities caused by intruders, we set up a research team to develop this student safety system,?Chen said.

Too intrusive?

On the basis of its advanced automatic fingerprint identification system, xue ping bao is able to identify strangers so they can be prevented from entering schools. In addition, it can check students?attendance by recording their entry and exit times.

¡°If parents are willing to pay 20 yuan (US$2.44) per month, they can receive Internet short messages informing them of their children¡¯s school arrival and departure times,?Chen said.

¡°If the installation of the fingerprint scanner really improves the school safety situation, I would happily pay for the message service,?a mother named Xu Suzhe said. ¡°But I wonder what role can they play, beyond telling me my girl¡¯s arrival and departure time??

Xu thinks children also need their own private space. She worries that the measures some schools have taken could hurt children¡¯s feeling.

¡°Children are born to be active and lively,?said Wu Dong, a lawyer with the M&A Law firm. ¡°If schools take on the role of nannies, the nature of children will be inhibited.?

Although Peiming Middle School has not installed this kind of fingerprint scanner, it was the first middle school to use an Internet message service to inform parents about their children¡¯s performance at school.

¡°Our initial intention was to improve school management by applying information technology, however, continuous media reports have had a negative effect on our school,?said a teacher surnamed Liu, working in the Educational and Student Affairs Division of Peiming Middle School.

Under increasing pressure due to the doubts of educational experts, parents and students, Shixi Primary School eventually decided to suspend use of its fingerprint scanner.

¡°Up to now, fingerprint collection has mainly been used in the field of criminal detection. From the viewpoint of law, collecting information regarding students?fingerprint characteristics violates their human rights and infringes upon their privacy,?Wu said.

¡°Today¡¯s Chinese children are usually from one-child families. As teachers, we are under huge psychological pressure due to our fear of parents, especially when facing the problem of school safety,?said Mao Meijuan, president of the Dongfang Kindergarten in Shanghai¡¯s Pudong New Area.

According to Mao, the Shanghai municipal government began taking school safety very seriously after several school killings and injuries in Beijing and other cities in the latter half of 2004.

¡°To prevent such incidents happening here, we discharged our former gatekeeper ?an old man ?and recruited young, professional security personnel to replace him,?Mao said. Moreover, each classroom and dormitory was equipped with hidden cameras to watch the children¡¯s movements.

In spite of the advanced equipment, Mao said a lack of vigilance was the main reason for school incidents. ¡°We are trying to integrate some necessary safety knowledge into our daily teaching activities,?Mao said.

Her thoughts were echoed by Xu: ¡°We cannot anticipate all dangers, no matter what we do. Therefore, it is very important that school staff have a strong sense of precaution and take immediate emergency measures in dangerous situations. After all, it is impractical to keep students enclosed by a wall.?

Xu¡¯s daughter is a second-grade student at a local key middle school, where teachers seldom teach students common safety knowledge.

Eyes on outsiders

¡°Maybe in the future, students will have to wear bullet-proof jackets and their campuses will be equipped with electronic nets to keep them safe,?joked Gu Jun, a sociologist at Shanghai University.

According to Gu, China¡¯s school safety problem has not deteriorated to such a degree that the use of fingerprint scanners is yet required. He believes that the main threat to school safety comes from outside.

¡°Schools should keep a watchful eye for outside intruders and criminals, but not students,?he said.

Gu told an illustrative story. An apprentice barber accidentally scratched a customer¡¯s head cut when cutting his hair. He covered the wound with one of his fingers, but soon there were 10 wounds on the customer¡¯s head and all his fingers were occupied.

¡°What should he do next, after he has no extra finger to cover the wounds? To take strict precautions everywhere is not a rational way to solve the school safety problem,?Gu said.

To a great extent, criminal offenses reflect social stability, Gu continued. In a society where people in vulnerable positions cannot find an effective way to protect their own rights and interests within the legal system, especially when they have no place to turn, social contradictions intensify until they are driven to hurt those much weaker than themselves.

¡°They have no choice but to vent their frustrations on the weak, since they cannot take revenge on those in strong positions. Under such circumstances, government should adopt a proactive attitude and solve the underlying problem, instead of evading the root causes,?Gu said.