West Bengal schools to introduce AI facial recognition attendance: Teachers may no longer need to call student's names as 100 schools prepare for trial
West Bengal is preparing to trial AI-powered facial recognition systems for tracking student attendance in 100 schools, replacing traditional roll calls by teachers.
Why this matters: This puts biometric surveillance on children, in schools, at scale. Kids cannot meaningfully consent to having their faces scanned daily. The data has to live somewhere, and whoever holds it holds a detailed record of every child's presence and movements over years. India does not yet have strong enforcement around biometric data, especially for minors. A pilot that feels like a convenience upgrade can quietly become permanent infrastructure. The question is not whether attendance matters. It is whether a child's face should be the price of showing up to class.
Who should care: Privacy officers · Cybersecurity · General readers · AI governance · Policy
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