Computer Chips in School Uniforms

Grade-school students in a northeastern Brazilian city are using uniforms embedded with computer chips that alert parents if ther're cutting classes, the city's education secretary told.

Twenty thousand students in 25 of the of Vitoria da Conquista's 213 public schools stated using T-shirts with chips earlier this week, secretary Coriolano Moraes said. By 2013, all of the city's 43,000 public school students - aged 4 to 14 - will be using the chip-embedded T-shirts, he added.

The "intelligent uniforms" tell parents when their children enter the school building by sending a text message to their cell phones. Parents are also alerted if kids don't show up 20 minutes after classes begin with the following message: "Your child has still not arrived at school." "We noticed that many parents would bring their children to school but would not see if they actually entered the building because they always left in a hurry to get to work on time." Moreaes said in a telephone interview. "They would always be surprised when told to the number times their children skipped class.

After a student skips classes three times parents will be asked to explain the absences. If they fail to do so the school may notify authorities, Moares said. The city government invested $670,000 to design, test and make the microchipped T-shirts, he said.

The T-shirts, can be washed and ironed without damaging the chips, Moraes said adding that the chips have a "security system that makes tampering virtually impossible." Moraes said that Vitoria da Conquista is the first city in Brazil "and may be in the world" to use this system.