- STOCKHOLM: Daycare centers in Sweden have started using GPS systems and other electronic tracking devices to keep tabs on children during excursions — a practice that has raised ethical and practical questions.
Some parents are worried day care centers will use the technology to replace staff. Others wonder whether it’s violation of personal integrity to make a child put on a GPS transmitter.
Monica Blank-Hedqvist, the principal of a daycare center in the city of Borlange, says the system is “excellent.” She says her staff have been using such devices during walks in the forest: the kids wear vests with transmitters that staff can track on a screen.
Sweden’s Data Inspection Board says it may investigate the matter.