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Thiruvananthapuram: It
can identify the right career for your child, tell you when he's
mischievously missing from the class and message you his test
scores as soon as he's been handed the answer sheet. A software
developed by three IT professionals promises to change the
teacher, students, parents dynamics in Kerala.
Called Edualert, the software has been developed by US-based
Keralites Akbar Narendran and Sanjay Nair, and Rajiv Viswanath who
is based here.
"Edualert can give suggestions to a student and his parents as to
which career suits him best based on his academic performance,"
33-year-old Narendran told IANS on a visit to Kerala to promote
the software.
The modus operandi goes something like this. Details of a child's
entire academic history, his interests and extra curricular
activities right from the first grade is fed into the software.
"Through an analysis, it would reveal which is the best career
option for the student," Narendran said.
Edualert operations manager Ramakrishnan said the thinking of
parents in the state for long has been that there are only two
good professions -- engineering and medicine.
"We have observed that many children for fear of earning the wrath
of their parents unwillingly opt for either of the two most sought
after professions," said Ramakrishnan.
The basic version of Edualert is free for schools. Around 10
schools in the state have already given the nod to this unique
product.
"In January, we will come again because we have got numerous
enquiries from schools in some metros and Tier II cities. We will
first do a demonstration of our product in front of teachers and
parents," said Narendran.
The software with add-ons version comes fairly cheap and it will
cost 10 percent of the annual fee of a student, said Narendran.
"It includes a centralised process of taking attendance which
takes only a few minutes. When done, an SMS will be sent to the
parents of all those students who are absent. Likewise, the moment
corrected answer papers are distributed, parents will get an SMS
about how their child has performed," said Narendran.
Another interesting feature is that the moment the child enters
the school bus, he will be monitored and in case there is a
traffic jam, an SMS alert will go to the parents.
"It took us two years to fully develop it as we did it in our
spare time. We are now working on some other add-ons," said
Narendran.
Krishnamurthy Iyer, principal of the A.R.R. Public School,
predicts the "revolutionary" software to be a huge hit in the
education sector.
"We installed it just two weeks back and from the first look, it's
something unique. It is certainly going to improve the quality of
students, parents and teachers. All the information on children
and their progress would be available at a click of a mouse," said
Iyer.
However, a Class 12 student had different views on the subject.
"In many homes, the relation between parents and children is
friendly. The software wouldn't bother those kids. But overall,
parents would always like to know what their ward is doing which
is a little scary," said the student, before saying that since his
schooling was almost over, he had escaped.
However, a mother of a Class 10 student said: "Children need not
be worried because this is a tool for their own betterment and for
their good future. Just look into the positives and not the
negative aspect that it will track children," she said.
(Sanu George
can be contacted at sanu.g@ians.in)
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