Teachers and parents ready to embrace Smart Parent app

Teachers will now be able to track students’ performances and keep their parents updated with their children’s performances after the Smart Parent App officially got into use last week, with the first pilot phase being conducted at Lycee Notre Dame de Citaeau with over 750 students. “After training teachers, we are now applying a major change on the software according to feedback from teachers. A teacher will be able to see graphics and statics on the statement of the student, and confirm by himself if the child is improving or not,” Olivier Karasira, the chief executive of Smart Parent told the Education Times. The next pilot will be at Lycee de Kigali after which all schools across the country will be able to use the software in a period of six months. Ernest Rwandenzi, the president of the parents’ committee at Lycee Notre Dame de Citaeau, commended the new initiative, saying it would enable parents monitor their children’s performance at school and help them improve academically. “With this system, teachers can easily connect with the parents with a simple application or SMS and parents are already excited about this. We believe it is a solution for our children’s performance in their schools,” he said. Karasira said it will take teachers five minutes to send daily reports to the parents. “They can compile reports and send an SMS to the parents. The initiative aims at providing the best study environment for students by tracking their attendance, lateness, performance, behaviour, health and hygiene. “A child cannot progress if they are regularly absent, late, sick, absent-minded or sleepy in class. Teachers will also have constant access to statistics about students when filling the report which will help them identify if the children are moving forward or regressing,” he explained.