Hyderabad: Tech Startups are getting ready to tap opportunities in the school segment. They are offering bus tracking, messaging services for schools to get in touch with parents and teachers, hosting homework on digital platforms and other allied services to automate many processes.
Naresh Challagulla, co-founder of Study Monitor, which offers education management solutions, says various administrative chores can be handled efficiently with technology. These include admissions, class subjects and timetable, attendance, transport management, library, online courses, assignments, examinations and marks and reports.
Study Monitor installs the software for Rs 5,000. It offers services in three variants. The first one is free and offers optional SMS integration. The second comes at Rs 120-150 per student per year. This offers RFID-based tap-and-go attendance module, id cards and vehicle tracking in addition to web and mobile applications. The third one, which costs Rs 300-350 per student per year, has the attendance marked through a ‘walk through gates’ facility.
“Having a digital platform will automate processes and help schools offer online modules. Parents get notifications about the tasks given to students,” he says. Study Monitor has tied up with about 100 schools in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka.
“We are in talks with more schools across the country,” says Challagulla, adding that focus is on helping schools go paperless as well as aid in the security of children.
Another company, Trackking, which offers vehicle and employee tracking systems, too has a module for tracking school buses.
Explaining the tracking technology, Vijay Tapadia, co-founder, says the GPS-enabled device is fitted in the school fleet. The control console is given to the school. This will allow parents to get notifications with real-time data.
The startup has deployed its solution in Kerala and a few other States. It is now in talks with multiple schools in the city. The bus can be tracked in real time on the web or an Android app. This allows route replay. There will be an alert the moment the bus leaves a certain area (geo-fencing). The parents can know the school bus location and get SMS alerts indicating if the bus is on time. The schools will also get an over-speed alert, says Tapadia.