Trackable School Uniforms Warn Parents if Kids Play Hooky
3 Apr 2012A microchip embedded in the school uniform of 20,000 Brazil grade school students is helping parents make sure their kids don’t cut class. The GPS tracking like school uniforms are using technology similar to that found in pet GPS trackers.
Students are required to wear their “intelligent uniforms” during school hours. According to school rules, parents must provide an explanation is a student has cut school three times — or else authorities are notified.
These high-tech radio frequency sensor (RFID) uniforms have a real-time alert feature built into them. The locator chip provides information to a central computer, which is programmed to send updates about their child’s whereabouts to parents via text messaging. Parents receive a text message when the student arrives at school. If a child is more than 20 minutes late or exits a designated school premises area, the parents receives a text message similar to: “Your child has still not arrived at school.”
The microchip is embedded in one of the school uniform’s sleeves or under the school’s coat of arms emblem. The uniform can be washed and ironed as normal, without damaging the microchip.
But never underestimate a child’s intelligence, determination, or will. When a kid really wants to cut school, they frequently find a clever way to do so. That’s why city officials designed the trackable uniforms with an anti-tampering security system. The chips are so durable that tampering is “virtually impossible,” said Coriolano Moraes, the city’s education director.
City government officials invested nearly $700,000 to come up with the design of the intelligent uniforms. To date, 25 schools have implemented the RFID-equipped uniforms in the Brazilian school system. By 2013, government officials plan to manufacture more microchip-embedded uniforms so that all 43,000 students ages four to 14 in the country’s public school system will have the high-tech uniforms.
Brazil officials think that the trackable uniforms are a viable solution to combat truancy. They hope they’re a trendsetter — with other cities and countries following their lead.
What’s your take on this story? Do you think the Brazilian government requiring students to wear locator chips and tracking their whereabouts is going to far? Do you think this idea would fly in the United States?
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