“Five fingerprint readers were implemented in the school, and are being used to identify its 728 students as well as its 82 teachers.”

Biometric student scanning has spread to Malaysia, with a secondary school in the town of Kota Tinggi using fingerprint readers to track attendance.

As The Star Online reports, the SMK Bandar Tenggara’s biometric attendance tracking system went live on January 1st. Five fingerprint readers were implemented in the school, and are being used to identify its 728 students as well as its 82 teachers.

Speaking to the media outlet, an administrative assistant with the school suggested that it had improved attendance among students, which now sits at a rate of over 95 percent. The staffer also asserted that students have generally been arriving earlier now that the biometric system is in place, saying it’s a “very encouraging” development.

Biometric attendance tracking is a major new trend in the enterprise sector, and has seen global growth among schools, as well. Authorities in India, for example, have made biometric attendance tracking mandatory at junior science colleges, while examples of such biometric systems have also popped up at certain schools in the US.