JOHOR BARU: SK Taman Perling 1 here made history when it became the first school in the country to use facial recognition scanners to mark pupils’ attendance.
The system, which was introduced on the first day of the 2020 school session yesterday, takes only two seconds to scan a pupil’s face before his personal information, such as full name, pupil number and class, is stored into the school’s database.
SK Taman Perling 1 headmaster Zamri Abd Wahad said 1,034 students, comprising 937 main stream pupils, 47 special education pupils and 50 preschoolers, would use the scanner to mark their attendance starting yesterday.
He said two face scanners had been installed at the school hall for pupils. Another had been installed at the office for 76 teachers and 12 staff members.
“The aim of the system is to make it easier for teachers to take attendance. They no longer have to do it manually, which reduces teachers’ workload.
“The system is up and running, but it will take some time to input all the pupils’ data into the system. It will be done in stages this week.
“The pupils’ attendance data will be stored in the system before it is copied and transferred to the Education Ministry’s database through the Students Database application,” said Zamri after the school assembly.
The school’s Parent-Teacher Association vice-president Datuk Suhaila Ahmad said the face scanning technology was contributed by Myra Hub Foundation.
She said the school was the first in the country to use the technology, compared with the QR code technology widely used in institutions of higher learning in the country.
“The cost of the software, as well as the installation and maintenance of the system, developed by RN Technologies Sdn Bhd, is RM50,000. It is fully funded by Myra Hub Foundation.
“The system will identify 30 points during the face-scanning process before the attendance data is stored,” said Suhaila.
Year Six pupil R. Kivesha said she and her friends were excited to use the system.
“I have seen this only on television before. I can’t believe I will use it in school.”