It looks like school skippers in Guangxi and Guizhou may have played their last game of hooky.
Over 10 schools in the two provinces have been trialing a technology that monitors students’ attendance and location by inserting chips into their uniforms, according to Global Times.
These ‘intelligent uniforms’ are able to record students' locations at all times, including the precise time they enter and exit the school grounds. One school in Guizhou has been using the wearable tech uniforms since 2016, with over 800 students donning the sci-fi school gear.
Aside from tracking students, the uniform is embedded with an automated voice alarm, which notifies pupils if they are walking off school property without permission. According to Southern Metropolis Daily, an upgraded version of the software can help parents track their children's physical activity, heart rate and other metrics.
The company responsible for the chip-powered clothing, Guizhou Guanyu Technology Company, has also installed facial recognition equipment on the doors of participating schools, which help detect if students swap uniforms. The smart clothing is expected to last for up to 500 washes and can sustain a max temperature of 150 degrees Celsius (read: indestructible).
A picture of the intelligent uniform by Guizhou Guanyu Technology Company. Image via @Guizhou Guanyu Technology Company/Weibo
There are, of course, privacy concerns over how kids are monitored outside of the classroom. One principal at a school in Guizhou told Global Times, “We choose not to check the accurate location of students after school, but when the student is missing and skipping classes, the uniforms help locate them.”
Netizens appear pretty spooked by this bolstered ‘attendance system,’ with some fearing the future implications of this level of surveillance at an early age. “Soon enough everyone will be issued a set,” wrote one person, while another netizen posted, “I propose every government worker should try this on first. I don’t think students should always be the ones used for this kind of testing. If government workers say it’s good then it really is.”
[Cover image via Ferris Bueller’s Day Off/IMDB]
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