Qatari education council launches chip trials for student safety project

The Department of Information Technology at the Supreme Education Council (SEC) has launched a trial operation of a safety project which actively tracks a student's presence on the bus and in the school premises. This project is part of the SEC policy of using the latest technology to boost the process of providing educations as well as security and safety of students in schools and outside in school buses, according to a report published by the Hukoomi e-government website. The system relies on a tracking device borne by the student and records his movements from the moment he boarded the bus. It also enables the school to track the bus and receive notification in case of a breakdown, registering the presence of the student from the time of boarding to getting off, register his attendance at the time of passing the school gate, enter any of the facilities of the school. The system also enables the transportation section at the SEC to track all buses and send SMS to parents and providing parents the ability to track the bus via the Internet. Four model and primary schools are participating in the project at the first stage - Al-Manar Model Independent School, Al Nahdha Independent Primary School for Girls, Lusail Model Independent School and Al Hoda Independent Primary School for Girls. During the trial stage, eight buses will be used, two for each school. Al Nahdha Independent Primary School for Girls held a presentation meeting for parents participating in the trails. The licensing company introduced aspects of child safety project and distributed the chips to the parents and urged them that the student should carry the chip to school every day. Al Hoda School held a similar presentation event for the project. The licensing companies and administrators of the participating schools were impressed by the innovative idea of the project which will boost the standards of security and safety of the students.