Ghanaian students to vote by biometric system

Accra, June 16, GNA - Efforts by political stakeholders to lobby the Electoral Commission (EC) to adopt a biometric voting system during Election 2012 have been boosted by authorities of Meridian Pre-University, who introduced the technology for students' election.

The Meridian biometric system would be used for checking students' attendance to lectures and elections, a mechanism considered as the first for any educational institution in Ghana and West Africa. Mr Tetteh Nettey, Executive President of the university said at the out-door of the system ceremony in Accra on Wednesday. He said the biometric system was the school's response to the age of information flow and search for high security features by organisations and governments to enhance information and create a trustworthy and reliable date.

He noted that the technology modernises the traditional system of checking attendance, which involved the shouting out of the names of students, who respond by either saying "present" or "absent" or signing in and out as pertaining in some tertiary institutions. "Aside the students' attendance, the biometric system would also be used to check lecturers' attendance to class, which the authorities would depend on for the payment of remuneration," Mr Nettey said. The Executive President said; "it is high time students and lecturers accounted for what is expected of them in a way that eliminate or reduces biases and unnecessary arguments, hence the introduction of the biometric technology".

He said the biometric system had an inbuilt mechanism to eliminate any form of fraudulent practices and errors associated with the manual and other systems that were susceptible to manipulations. Mr Nettey said the modern technology would be the backbone of Meridian Pre-University and therefore tasked lecturers and students to be abreast of new technologies that would be introduced by the authorities from time to time.

He called on the authorities of Ghanaian institutions and the business community to adopt the system to control staff movement and lateness to work.

Mr Paragon Pomeyie, a lecturer who use Information, Communication and Technology (ICT) to lecture, recommends the technology to his colleagues. In a related development, lecturers of Meridian Pre-University were taken through a day's workshop under the theme "ICT in Lecturing". They were taken through various modules of making ICT an integral part of their work both in and out of the lecture hall.