Will fingerprint machines be mandatory in schools from 2026?

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Since last year, the government announcement regarding the installation of fingerprint machines in government institutions has been a topic of discussion on social media platforms. Along with these posts, another post was shared stating that fingerprint machines would be mandatory in schools from 2026. Here is a fact-check on that.

Social Media Posts :

A social media post was published with the statement, “Fingerprint machines will be mandatory in all schools from 2026. No, problem, as the salary per day was given.”

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Many social media users, believing the post to be true, have reposted it with their opinions.

Below are some other posts that were reshared.

Fact Check:

If the government has made a decision to install fingerprint machines in schools, it should have been reported through the mainstream media. Therefore, we checked the mainstream media platforms, but none of them have reported on it.

Ms. S. Vijitha Basnayake, Media Secretary to the Minister of Education, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya

To verify the facts in this regard, we inquired with Ms. S. Vijitha Basnayake, the Media Secretary to the Minister of Education, Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya. She stated that this is false news and that no such decision has been made yet.

Media Division of the Minister of Education

We also inquired with the Media Division of the Minister of Education regarding this. They also confirmed that such a decision has not been taken so far and no such announcement has been made.

Procedure for installing fingerprint machines for government institutions.

The Ministry of Provincial Councils and Local Government had announced in August 2025 that steps would be taken to install fingerprint scanners in every government institution in the country, and that such fingerprint scanners had already been installed in many government institutions, including divisional secretariats.

The Ministry had explained that through this, accurate records of arrivals, departures, and overtime work within the public service will be maintained, thereby ensuring transparency and accountability.

However, there was a heated debate in society regarding this issue, due to the fact that employees of various government institutions had expressed their opposition to this decision.

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Conclusion : 

Our investigation confirms that the circulating posts stating that fingerprint machines would be mandatory from 2026 are false. Ministry of Education officials have confirmed that no such decision has been taken.