Hyderabad: EdCET aim of female students stalled by mehendi on hands

Hyderabad: EdCET counselling for admission to B.Ed courses has been experiencing an unexpected problem in the last few days. Biometric devices failed to read the finger prints of female Muslim students who came for certificate verification in city colleges because of mehendi on their hands, donned as part of Id celebration.

For certificate verification,  the candidates’ biometric data is cross-checked. But the fingerprint scanners failed to do the job because of mehendi. The data recorded at the time of the entrance exam could not be verified.

The problem was noticed at Nizam and AV College. EdCET convenor Prof. P. Prasad said the candidates not verified  were asked to come later. The last day for the counselling was Monday, but for such candidates, work will continue till Wednesday.

Mr Vamshi Krishna Reddy, overseeing the counseling process in AV College, Domalguda, said that some candidates whose fingerprints were not captured on Sunday, came again on Monday and formalities were completed.

Biometric devices are sensitive to any coating
Raghavendra Prasad who deals with biometric devices said that the sensors in finger print scanners are very sensitive. If fingers are covered with anything like mehendi or paint, they do not work and the image cannot be captured irrespective of the quality, he said.

EdCET Convenor Prof. P. Prasad said they contacted technicians who suggested that the candidate be asked to wash their hands repeatedly to lighten the coating. “We asked the candidates to do the same”, he said.