iCard for students to punch their attendance, at a price
The Education Ministry, together with a mobile service provider, is to introduce an iCard system which marks a student’s school attendance through a magnetic card reader.
In the latest project, students will be given a card each which they have to swipe on entering their school, which will directly send a text message to their parents, notifying the students’ attendance. The card will carry personal details of the student, such as name, identity number and the class.
“This system will assure parents that their child is safely at school, because, in the absence of a text message, they would know that their child hasn’t shown up in school. Likewise, if the student met with an accident or some misfortune like that, the parents will get to know this,” Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena told the Education Times.
He said the system is not compulsory, and parents who wish to avail themselves of the technology, could utilise the service.
The minister said that one-third of the revenue the mobile service provider receives will be given to the Education Ministry, to support the Mahindodaya projects to set up labs. The Ministry is to extend the ‘highest quality’ in education opportunities to both rural and urban school children through this Mahindodaya funds.
“The Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), was signed between the two institutes on Thursday (4) and the project is to start with immediate effect,” the minister said.
He said that they intend starting the project with Royal College, Colombo, and later introduce it to other schools.
However, Lanka Teacher Services Union (LTSU) General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said that this system will be an additional burden on parents.
“We first got the news regarding this system three months ago, when the students of Sangamiththa Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo, were asked to pay Rs 300 each. Our union even protested against this. We see this as a fraud that is imposed upon the parents to support a certain service provider,” he said.
He said that the monthly charge of Rs 30, for the service, will be taken from the parents.
“We don’t see the necessity in bringing in a system like this to our schools. There are other aspects that should be addressed in the education sector than these,” he said.
The LTSU secretary also said that, even though the project may start as a non-compulsory one, it will become ‘auto-compulsory’, when it is actually introduced to schools.
“The parents will be forced to get this card, because when some do, they wouldn’t feel good staying without getting it, as it is sold under the name of keeping track of their children,” he said.
He also added that the Education Ministry started the Mahindodaya projects saying that parents wouldn’t have to spend for it. “The Education minister said that Rs 40 million will be given to schools to develop them, but now, they are indirectly taking parents’ money to fund the projects,” he said.
| We first got the news regarding this system three months ago, when the students of Sangamiththa Balika Vidyalaya, Colombo, were asked to pay Rs 300 each. Our union even protested against this. We see this as a fraud that is imposed upon the parents to support a certain service provider |
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