Brazilian schools microchip T-shirts to cut truancy

At http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17484532

23 March 2012 Last updated at 03:33 GMT

Schools in Brazil have started to place computer chips in school uniforms to keep track of pupils and reduce truancy.

Some 20,000 pupils in the north-eastern city of Vitoria da Conquista will have microchips embedded in their school T-shirts.

The parents will get a text message when their children arrive at school, or if they are late for classes.

The authorities say the measure will help teacher-parent relations.

SMS alerts

The authorities in Vitoria da Conquista, Bahia state, call the microchipped T-shirts "intelligent uniforms".

They say that by next year all local pupils aged up to 14 would use them.

The city's education director, Coriolano Moraes, says the measure was introduced because parents were not aware that their children were missing... ( more at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-17484532 )