Futuristic eye scanner breaks new ground for schools

IT looks like a scene from the latest Philip K Dick science fiction blockbuster — students having their eyes scanned as they queue in the canteen for food.

The futuristic technology was unveiled in a school in Britain yesterday to allow pupils to buy school meals without using any cash.

Using the iris scanner, Sunderland's Venerable Bede School can secretly pick out less well-off pupils who are entitled to free meals from those who have to pay, who will be charged in a separate account.

It is hoped that the cashless system will save less well-off students from embarrassment and lead to greater equality among classmates.

Head teacher Dr Ed Yeates said: "We are determined to remove all barriers within our school to maximise each student's learning potential. This technology allows us to move one step closer to achieving our goal."

The new system will also be used by the school's 900 pupils to take out library books.

Using the high-tech imaging system, believed to be the first in Europe, pupils will be asked to look into a camera for a few seconds while a video image is taken and then cross-referenced to a school database.

Designers say the fact that the iris is the most mathematically distinct feature of the human body makes it the most accurate means of identification.

The iris itself is also stable throughout a person's life, so its physical characteristics do not change with age.

While fingerprinting has a 3% inaccuracy rate, due to dirt and scars, the new system has a rate of just 0.1%.