School embraces app which will enable parents to monitor child’s progress

Aparna Banerji

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, December 9

Even though various schools in the district are taking steps to make their transactions with parents cashless, taking the digital India dream a step further, Police DAV Public School here has become the first school in the city to start a homework/class updates app which shall now directly enable the parents to keep an eye on what their wards are studying at the school.

Called the ‘Snap Homework App’, the app, which is being used at the school for the past two months, is a hit with the parents of 6,000 students at the school, a majority of whom have already downloaded it.

The app is already being used in some schools in Ludhiana and Amritsar.

While parents are always curious to know about the classroom updates or lay their hands on the best work of the class, additional worksheets, sample papers, video clippings and the work left incomplete or missed out by their children, the app now makes all this within their reach. The app has a number for every classroom and a window for every subject. Just by clicking on the subject, the parents can access information and things taught to the students through photos (of blackboard instructions, homework allocated etc.) and videos.

The app, which works through cloud computing, has made the signing of the documents by the parents so easy that teachers can send these through snap homework easily and track those who have not signed. All signed documents are stored in the cloud for secure, private and easy retrieval.

Interestingly, the app was chosen after a lot of research.

School principal Dr Rashmi Vij said, “Last year, a senior official’s son had been skipping school and misinforming his parents that he was doing so since there were no studies in higher classes. When confronted with the parent on the issue, we told him that we had been sending repeated notes about his son’s absence, which the student never shared at home. This incident triggered the need for us to keep the parents in the loop from the school’s side.”

“After enquiring from various schools in other cities and extensively following education and app trends, we zeroed in on the ‘Snap Homework App’ which is absolutely free. I even got in touch with functionaries of Snap Homework, who visited the school and trained our teachers. Now, all teachers and a majority of the parents are using it and the results are brilliant. Parents are well-versed with the goings-on at their kids’ classes. I personally monitor the work as well,” she added.

“A helpline has already been started by the school for the parents facing trouble accessing or downloading the app. In the upcoming PTM, the teachers would be sharing with parents the details of cost-effective and affordable smart phones as well,” the principal added.