The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Parents to get SMS about children skipping classes in schools

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 30, 2009
ePaper | Mobile/PDA Version

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Parents to get SMS about children skipping classes in schools

Deepa H Ramakrishnan

The software to be tested for a week before implementation in all Corporation schools

— Photo: K. V. Srinivasan

CATCHING UP WITH TIMES: The Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School in Nungambakkam where the trial run of the software is on.

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation will soon start sending text messages (SMS) to parents of children studying in classes 9, 10, 11 and 12 in its schools whenever the students skip classes.

It is testing a software to be used for this purpose. A senior official of the civic body said the software, obtained from the CSR arm of an IT major for free, has been installed in the Corporation Girls Higher Secondary School, Nungambakkam. It would be tested for a week after which the system of text messaging would be implemented across all Corporation schools, he added.

The ‘School Monitoring Software’ would also have a database of marks scored by the students of all classes in their monthly tests and term examinations.

This would help monitor their performance.

If students’ performance dipped, it would be taken note of by the school authorities and remedial measures initiated. Nearly 1.27 lakh students study in the over 300 Corporation schools.

Over a period of time, the marks would be made available online and students or their parents could get details from the website. Marksheets and transfer certificates could also be obtained easily using the software.

Teachers’ performance

The performance of the school teachers would also be monitored with the software. If they are not up to the mark, seminars and workshops would be conducted to improve their teaching standard.

As the monitoring would be done centrally, absenteeism among teachers could be curbed.

Computers available in the schools would be used to implement the system. Existing staff, including junior assistants and school assistants, would make the entries.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Tamil Nadu