Q: Instead of paying cash for lunches, they will have an account and have their fingerprints scanned. Is this open to abuse or should I just agree to it?
A: My sons school has this and I love it. I recently became unemployed and was entitled to free school dinners for him. Until this scheme was introduced the pupils had to hand over money or a "free" token. Now they stand in front of the camera and it scans their iris, the computer holds details of each individuals name and also how much credit there is on their account. Parents top up the account either online of via cheque - NO pupil then has to disclose to another that they are on "free" school dinners and there is no money on school premises that can get stolen. I love it as my son isn't singled out. Also I can check online to see what he's been eating as the school log the food against their files. I am not worried about the system not being safe, no one has had a problem and the school are very up to date with their computer system (they are a Science and Computing College for 11-16 year olds) So I say don't worry. One day everything will be like this and we'll just have to accept it. After all, our passports are now biometric :-)