Staff Reporter
Guwahati: In a significant stride towards ensuring student attendance and reducing dropout rates, the Department of School Education on Monday formally launched a state-of-the-art Automated SMS-Based Absenteeism Alert System through the Shiksha Setu app. The service was inaugurated in the presence of Education Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu.
The new initiative leverages technology to track the daily attendance of teachers and students across schools and to address the persistent issue of student absenteeism. According to a study conducted by UNICEF, student absenteeism remains a concern due to factors such as family-related issues, lack of parental awareness and socio-economic challenges. The newly launched system aims to ensure timely intervention and sustained engagement with parents and schools to improve regular attendance.
Under the system, standardized SMS alerts will be automatically triggered when a student remains absent for five consecutive days. These alerts will be generated at fixed five-day intervals-on the 5th, 10th, 15th day and so on-and will continue until the student resumes attending school. This mechanism is designed to facilitate early identification of prolonged absence and prompt corrective action.
A key feature of the initiative is its dual-recipient communication model. SMS alerts will be sent simultaneously to class teachers and parents or guardians. Teachers will receive detailed messages mentioning the student's name, class and section, enabling them to directly follow up with families. Parents, on the other hand, will receive concise reminders highlighting their child's continued absence and encouraging them to send the student back to school.
Recognising Assam's linguistic diversity, the alert system has been designed for multilingual outreach. Messages will be delivered in five official languages-Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Hindi and English. In each district, alerts will be sent in at least two relevant local languages based on geographical and demographic considerations, ensuring wider reach and better comprehension.
Minister Dr Ranoj Pegu noted that timely communication with parents and teachers would play a crucial role in addressing absenteeism, ensuring continuity in learning and safeguarding students from dropping out of school.
The launch of the SMS-based absenteeism alert system marks another milestone in the successful implementation of the Shiksha Setu app and underscores the Department of School Education's focus on data-driven governance and student-centric reforms.
The Shiksha Setu Axom app, developed under Samagra Shiksha Assam, has emerged as a key digital tool for managing school education in the state. The app is currently being used for regular attendance tracking of students and teachers, maintenance of school records, and monitoring of academic and administrative data.
Over the past few years, Shiksha Setu has helped improve data transparency and accountability. The platform has also enabled the removal of a large number of duplicate and ghost student entries, resulting in a cleaner and more reliable education database.
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