Chinese Ministry Recommends Caution After Facial Recognition Enters Classrooms
Xu Wei
DATE:  Sep 06 2019
/ SOURCE:  yicai
Chinese Ministry Recommends Caution After Facial Recognition Enters Classrooms Chinese Ministry Recommends Caution After Facial Recognition Enters Classrooms

(Yicai Global) Sept. 6 -- China's education ministry has told Chinese schools to handle facial recognition with kid gloves in order to protect children's and youngsters' data privacy.

Facial recognition technology used in schools will cause data security and privacy issues, and the ministry has assigned experts to study the field, The Paper reported yesterday, citing Lei Zhaozi, director of a science and technology department under the ministry.

"We must be very careful with students' personal information and collect as little information as possible and even collect none if such information is not necessary, especially biometric information," said Lei. 

Students who started a new semester at Nanjing's China Pharmaceutical University may have noticed that the school gates, library, and two of the classrooms have now been equipped with facial recognition cameras, which can observe lapses of attention, the China Education News Web reported earlier. 

An official at the school told the CENW that the technology is useful for teachers to evaluate the quality of their teaching as they can detect if the students are not paying attention to them, and instead, playing with their mobile phones or perhaps reading literature that falls outside the curriculum. 

The university consulted with legal and public security authorities before installing the cameras and found out that they do not violate people's privacy because classrooms are considered as public places, Xu Jianzhen, director of the library and information center at the eastern university, told The Paper. The institution may add cameras to other classrooms depending on the feedback received regarding the first two, Xu added.

China Pharmaceutical University got the equipment from Kuangshi Technology, also known as Megvii. The Beijing-based firm said in a separate statement that the objective of the products is to protect the safety of children on campus by keeping track of people who enter the school area and dormitories. The company adheres to the data privacy rules and is open to public recommendations, it added. 

Editor: Emmi Laine 

Follow Yicai Global on
Keywords:   Facial Recognition,Ministry of Education,AI