Angry parents have condemned the Government's new schools census - a database of pupil information - as an invasion of their privacy.

Sussex opponents say the census amounted to a national identity scheme.

Until now, the annual information schools have been required to provide to the Department for Education and Skills has not identified individual pupils.

But, this year, schools were told to give every child's name, postcode, date of birth and unique pupil number, along with "sensitive" information like special educational needs, mother tongue, ethnicity and eligibility for free school meals.

Opponents protested there was no public debate on the issue and have accused the Government of introducing the census by stealth.

Mother-of-three Kate Ward, of Hastings, said: "We have been kept in the dark and have had to search web sites to find out anything.

"We're worried about what they are going to do with the information."

Another objector, Tula Dyer, of Eastbourne, said: "I was horrified when I found out what was happening. The way the Government has gone about obtaining this information is really covert.

"Some people will feel they have nothing to hide but there are others who feel their private lives should remain private."

Education Secretary Estelle Morris announced the census changes last February.

She said her department intended to create a central pupil database of children in the state sector.

The information would be collated mainly by means of a unique pupil number, allocated when a child entered school.

The data would include exam results and would act as a tracking system that would contribute towards raising standards.

Campaign group Action of Rights for Children in Education (Arch) said the database was a gross intrusion on the privacy of families and amounted to the Government spying on children.

It said the database could easily be linked to another in Ms Morris's Connexions scheme.

This has the power to collect personal information on every child aged 13 to 19 from sources including the police, the probation service, health authorities, social services and benefits agencies.

Arch spokeswoman Terri Dowty said: "We have been inundated with inquiries from parents who are very angry.

"Most families do not even know their names and addresses are being sought. It is outrageous a department can simply ride roughshod over data protection legislation."

The Department for Education and Skills said it had no interest in the identity of individual pupils.

It said census data would be used purely for statistical purposes to monitor pupil performance more effectively.

A spokeswoman said: "In order to link different data sets to analyse the achievement levels of ethnic, gender or other groups, pupils names are being recorded.

"The data will be sorted securely and only accessed by technical staff."