School goes digital with student cards
PATHUM THANI — The Pathum Thani Provincial Administration Organization
(PAO) has issued an electronic identification card for students, which allows the school
to send SMS text automatically to their parents if they skip class.
A student scans her card
at the demonstration at
Samkhok School in
Pathum Thani on Jul 16,
2014. - PONGPAT
WONGYALA
A demonstration was held
today to show how the ID
card worked at Samkhok
School in Sam Khok
district.
A budget of 1 million baht
was used to issue the card to all 3,500 students at the school, according to Charn
Puangphet, chairman of the PAO.
The card, which contains information of each student, is used to record class
attendance.
The students scan their cards when they enter the school at the six scanners supervised
by one teacher each to prevent them from scanning cards for their friends.
Any student who fails to scan his card between 6.30-8.20am and 3.45-5.30pm, the
control centre will send an SMS message to his parent's mobile phone automatically.
Parents can also check the whereabouts of their children any time by going to
www.samkouk.com.
By scanning the card, the students will be credited with 100 marks for good behaviour.
If they are never late or absent, or when they do some good deeds, the marks will
increase and the school will grant them certificates if they reach 200-300.
Those who are late or absent, or skip class, will see their marks cut. The marks below
100 means they will not pass to the next grade.
"What we expect to get from the ID card is for the students to be more responsible,
prompt and improve their behaviours. It also allows parents to be able to monitor their
children more closely," Samnao Saengkaew, the school's director, said.
The school, which teaches grades 1-6 and is run by the PAO, has been keen to
improve its quality over the years, being among the first to have a natural classroom
system and a high-technology library.
About the author
Writer: Pongpat Wongyala
Position: Writer