TheSchoolDiary

South Africa is making a concerted attempt to address the inequities of the past by allocating in excess of 20% of total government expenditure to education. The challenges are huge as there is still an illiteracy rate of 24% of adults of 15 years and older.

While 65% of whites and 40% of Indians have a high school or higher education level, this figure is only 14% among the black and 17% among the coloured population.

Although parents are very keen to help monitor their children, ensure that homework and assignments are done and that there is adequate preparation for exams, they have not had the tools to address this need. In addition, in many communities both parents are working and many do not have access to computer facilities. TheSchoolDiary combines a comprehensive package of Web and mobile phone applications. These are of tremendous value to educators, parents and the educational system.

Mohammed Badat, CEO of MyVoIP Communications, says: “This cutting-edge solution is revolutionary and far superior to anything else in the marketplace. TheSchoolDiary is probably the first of its kind anywhere. We expect a tremendous response and impact on the education system with this product.” After careful consideration and having fully assessed the interventions required to address some of the nine focus areas looked at when evaluating a school, MyVoIP Communications, developed an integrated electronic solution branded as TheSchoolDiary.

TheSchoolDiary is an interactive medium aimed at improving communication between schools and parents directly via the Internet and mobile phones, obviating the need for paper-based communication. It has been designed to ensure that direct, regular and almost immediate exchange of communication takes place between educators and parents without undue disruption of teaching activities. This solution allows for a more consistent and effective two-way flow of information and helps establish and maintain a clear pathway for parental involvement.

TheSchoolDiary solution offers schools fantastic benefits, including a support structure that complements school administration systems and an interactive, two-way communication channel between the school and parents. This enables parents to stay constantly informed on all school activities and extracurricular activities and provides a medium for parents to express their concerns without having to wait for parent/teacher meetings.

The system maintains a comprehensive record of all homework, tests and assignments allocated as well as learners' exam results. Educators will be able to produce comprehensive records/reports of their learners at the touch of a button, track whether a parent has actually viewed a learner's homework and communicate their concerns with the parents regularly and efficiently. The increase in parental involvement and parent-teacher communication will lead to an improvement in the academic performance of learners.

TheSchoolDiary system is offered at no cost to the school. In addition, the system offers a platform to generate income from various revenue streams. A small monthly fee is required from parents to access the system. The company has structured campaigns that will help to provide assistance to parents to pay the monthly subscription in situations where difficulty is experienced.