SchoolDirect® is a specialised software service which can be used by parents from their mobile phones or PCs to connect to their child’s/ward’s school, to access important information online or engage in day-to-day tasks. Parents would also be able to receive alerts and notifications on their mobile phones or email about important school announcements and messages. For example, parents would be able to check/receive their child’s homework, or even submit a leave letter, online, at any time.
The SchoolDirect® Experience
SchoolDirect® has been created based on feedback from heads of institutions and parents to address the following three areas:
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Online Information Availability and Delivery
Schools have realised that:
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Parents and students require regular day-to-day information on various school/classroom related tasks (For example, Homework for the day).
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The lack of information in these areas could lead to parental/student anxiety.
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By ensuring that information in these areas are made available online, or pushed to their mobile phones automatically, schools can demonstrate that they are proactive and responsive to parental requirements, thereby creating a strong connect between the school and its parental community.
SchoolDirect® is the ideal platform through which the school would be able to deliver a rich experience to the parents/students and establish a strong connect.
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Online Transaction Capability
SchoolDirect® is much more than a platform for providing information. It incorporates features through which parents can engage in online transactions, to deliver greater convenience. For example, fees can be paid online, or a leave letter may be submitted online.
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Online Learning Assets
SchoolDirect® facilitates teachers to create question banks and quizzes using easy-to-use interfaces. These quizzes can be taken online by students, at any time. The Learning Zone would continuously be populated with learning materials by the teachers, and would become a great asset for the school and its students.
Features of SchoolDirect
SchoolDirect® Services can be experienced on:
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Mobile Phones (Wireless)
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PCs (Internet/Web)
In addition, all the information on SchoolDirect® can be experienced on a "To & Fro" basis from the mobile phones and PCs.
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On the mobile phones, users can receive information as SMS and can also request for specific information by sending an SMS and receiving an immediate response.
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On the web, of course, users can engage with SchoolDirect® on an interactive basis to access and submit information, and to engage in various transactions and tasks.
SchoolDirect® provides information and the ability to engage in interactive transactions in the following areas:
Office Zone
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School Calendar
The school holidays, events, details of meetings can be recorded date wise and parents can either access the SchoolDirect® portal or even send a short SMS to a SchoolDirect® central number and get the details of calendar entries.
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Bus Routes
Morning or evening, parents can get to know if the bus is on time or is delayed. This is important, when they are waiting for the bus to collect or drop their child. They just need to send a short SMS to a SchoolDirect® central number and they would get the status information immediately.
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Uniform
The class wise uniform details would be updated at the time of implementation and made available for reference, for the parents and teachers at the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Fees
The fees’ master details can be setup according to the various grades/classes, and the payments can be updated and reminders if any can be sent to parents. Provision for online fees payment can also be arranged through the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Lost and Found
It is a common occurrence that children forget or misplace their personal belongings at school. Water bottles / pencil boxes / books may be missing when the child comes home and may have been misplaced or left behind at school. Parents can send an SMS to the SchoolDirect® central number and get the update of all the items located by the school at the end of each day. All items found at school are updated to the SchoolDirect® portal and may be accessed by parents at any time.
Classroom Zone
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Syllabus
The class and subject wise syllabus outline along with the Board’s syllabus file would be updated at the time of implementation and the same would be available for reference for the parents and the teachers at the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Curriculum
The class wise overview of the subjects to be taught would be updated at the time of implementation and the same would be available for reference for the parents and the teachers at the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Books
Details of the class and subject wise prescribed books would be updated at the time of implementation and the same would be available for reference, for the parents and the teachers at the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Lesson Plan
The class, section and subject wise overview of lesson plan charted out by the teachers would be updated at the time of implementation and the same would be available for reference, for the parents and the teachers at the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Timetable
The class and section wise time table would be updated at the time of implementation and the same would be available for reference, for the parents and the teachers at the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Teachers
Parents would be able to request for meetings/ interactions with teachers at school and receive confirmation(s) on their mobile phone and their home page on the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Attendance
The attendance records would be updated by the school to the SchoolDirect® portal and would be available to parents at any time. They can also send an SMS to query this information. In case a child is on leave without any intimation to the school, the concerned parent would also receive an SMS message on his/her mobile phone.
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Leave Letter
A child is not well in the morning or there is some emergency situation that requires the child to be absent from school – No problem! Parents can send an SMS to intimate the school or they can log into the SchoolDirect® portal and submit a leave letter. The information will reach the school and the same will be updated to the attendance register available on the website.
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Homework
The daily homework information, subject-wise for each class, would be updated to the SchoolDirect® portal, and parents would be able to look up their child’s homework assignments at their convenience. A summary of homework for each day would be sent as an SMS alert to their mobile phones. They could also send an SMS to the SchoolDirect® central number at any time to get this information.
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Tests & Exams
Class test/exam schedules would be updated to the SchoolDirect® portal. The subject-wise results/marks would also be available on the website.
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Progress Report
A scanned copy of the students’ progress report can be uploaded and the same can be downloaded by the parents from the SchoolDirect® portal
Activities Zone
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Activities Calendar
You will receive alerts and updates about any requirements that your child needs to fulfill, for participating in extra-curricular activities at school, whether it be Sports Day, School Day, etc.
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Registration
If you need to register your child’s participation in any extra-curricular activity, the same can be done through the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Gallery
Image Gallery pertaining to various latest extra-curricular activities would be made available on the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Archives
Image Gallery and write-ups about earlier extra-curricular activities can be archived and made available on the SchoolDirect® portal for viewing by parents and teachers.
Learning Zone
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Learning Material
An online repository of online learning resources class, subject and topic wise, in the form of small write-ups, presentation files (PPTs), images and word documents can be uploaded. These can be viewed/ downloaded by the parents and teachers from the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Quiz
An online repository of quizzes, class, subject and topic wise, in the form of multiple choice/ true / false answer types, can be uploaded. These can be accesed at the SchoolDirect® portal.
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Question Bank
An online repository of class, subject and topic wise, question bank in the form of word documents can be uploaded. These can be viewed/ downloaded by the parents and teachers from SchoolDirect® portal.
Benefits of SchoolDirect
SchoolDirect® offers the following benefits to parents/students, and to the school.
To Parents/Students
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Availability of timely information on important school/classroom activities and tasks.
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Receipt of alerts and notifications to mobile phones and to email addresses on all important information and events.
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Ability to receive or “pull” information as required from mobile phones, to take advantage of the “To & Fro” nature of SchoolDirect® Services.
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Convenience of engaging in online tasks & transactions for various school and classroom related situations.
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Value addition in terms of interactive access to learning materials uploaded by class/subject teachers.
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Participate in discussion forums to benefit from the knowledge base available to the entire parental community.
To School
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Ability to provide timely information, alerts and updates to parents on various school/classroom activities and tasks.
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Ability to provide greater convenience to parents to engage in online tasks and transactions.
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Ability to create a knowledge-based repository within the Learning Zone, in terms of question banks, quizzes and other learning materials on a variety of topics and subjects for the benefit of the entire student community. Since these learning assets are digital and in a central location, their usefulness would span across many years.
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Ability to create a close connection with the parental community and establish the school as proactive and responsive to parental concerns and requirements.
