For Parents Archives - Page 3 of 4

Posted on September 26, 2014 by Edsys

If you are a fan of Hollywood sci-fi movies, you might have come across various means of individual identification. Remember the retina scan in Minority Report, finger prick in Gattaca and many more. But these futuristic technologies would take quite a long time to become practical everyday solutions. For the immediate future – say the next couple of decades, we have smart cards, which everyone including you and me would find easy to use.

Smart cards or Integrated Circuit Cards (ICC) are very much similar to a credit card and it is usually made with plastic. Smart cards contain integrated circuits embedded inside them. They are capable of providing many functions such as identification, data storage, authentication and application processing. The advantages of smart cards over conventional magnetic stripe cards are high security, convenience, reduction in fraud activities etc. So smart cards have a bright future. Using a smart card, you can access various applications and networks. Smart cards offer services to both public and private sectors. The future aspects of smart cards in these sectors are discussed below:

Services in Public Sector:

Smart card provides services in various fields under public sector. Those are mentioned below:

1. Healthcare: Smart health cards are capable of storing various information regarding patients like medical, administrative, pharmaceuticals and biological records. It also helps to reduce frauds in healthcare, improve the privacy and security of patient data and also provides a secure platform to implement new applications in demand with the health care organization. Smart health card helps to simplify the administration process and allow doctors to access complete and comprehensive patient information.

2. Schools: Students are provided with multifunctional smart cards at schools and colleges. Take for instance, the Edsys student smart card solutions. Their uses include:

Student tracking: Edsys’ smart card solutions enable parents to get real time information about their kids and their vehicle. They can track their kid’s vehicle location. Automated SMS alerts are sent to the parents if their kids are in any sort of danger. Edsys’ smart card solutions also generate various Management Information System (MIS) reports. Data of students, drivers and parents can also be stored in this smart card.

As an electronic purse in canteen/cafeteria: Edsys smart card allows students to purchase items at canteens. Students can check the balance available on their smart card at the time of the purchase. At the time of the purchase, the appropriate amount will be deducted from the available balance and the attendant would issue the ordered item. Parents would be able to check the purchase statements against the money credited on to Edsys smart card.

Payment of fees: Using Edsys’ smart card, parents can pay their kid’s school fees. In comparison with the conventional method of providing name and other details to pull up details, encoded information in the smart card helps to identify the student and their fee details. At the Fee collection counter, parents can top up the credit on the card by paying the amount to the cashier.

Library: Using Edsys smart card, students can mark their attendance in the library when they are using library for reading. Similarly, librarians are able to pull up records of students to issue/return library books.

Book store management: Students can purchase books, magazines etc. from the book store using Edsys’ smart card. Parents would get a statement of items purchased from the store.

3. Transportation: Transportation smart cards are rechargeable and also they are contact-less cards. If you have this smart card, you don’t need to take tickets or pay money while you travel. It will also simply the process of passenger boarding. Using this smart card, you can even pay for your parking.

4. Welfare:
Smart cards can be used to identify finger prints of the card holder. Using this facility, card holder can access government databases and he/she can receive the welfare payment. The security provided by the card will help to eliminate the frauds.

5. Telecommunication: The Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) which is used in mobile phone is a smart card of reduced size. Calls can be made from the public phones using smart card and they can be recharged with cash points. By using the card, you don’t have to use coins in the public phones and this will reduce the vandalism. Usage of smart cards will reduce the operating charge and will increase the revenue. Studies have shown that people who use smart card to communicate tends to talk more on the phone.

Services in Private sector:

Usage of smart cards can reduce the handling and transaction costs. Smart cards combine the functions of various cards into one. They gives users the ability to make peer-to-peer and online/offline transactions. Smart cards have made rapid and potential advancements in various fields such as Banking, Internet and Electronic commerce.

6. Banking: Smart cards can avoid the major problems in banking field such as fraud, bad debt and the limitation of magnetic stripes. Smart cards are capable of storing 80 times more data than the conventional cards. Based on each individual’s profile, smart card helps the financial institutes to offer more services and personalized products for the card holders.

7. Internet: Instead of a remote device, smart card can store all personal data such as e-mails, user ID’s, phone numbers etc. It allows to get connected to the Internet anywhere around the globe if you have either a phone or an information kiosk.

8. Electronic Commerce: Smart cards can store electronic cash in it and card holders use that to make payments over the Internet. Customer data and payment details are transported securely over the Internet using Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) protocol.

Smart cards are widely accepted in Asia, Europe and in less developed countries mainly because of their convenience and safety. At present, smart cards are used for Internet access, wireless telephony, banking, payphones and healthcare. It would continue to revolutionise various sectors and pave way to a future that looks like a sci-fi movie.

Posted on September 17, 2014 by Edsys

A couple of weeks ago, I met a friend of mine in the evening. She is a teacher at one of the major schools (sorry, can’t disclose the name) in Kolkata. Quite the colourful character, she chose the profession because it was her passion. However, that particular day, she was unusually quiet. From the moment she came in, something was clearly bothering her. There was an air of tension around her.

Surprise, surprise!

After a few sullen moments, I asked her what the issue was. She replied “School’s so exhausting! On top of my regular work, I am now in charge of recruiting new employees.” I asked her –“Nita, why the hell? What is the HR department doing then?” She looked at me as if I am an alien. Her response shocked me. “What HR, dude? This is a school.” She added “there was one accounts guy who was taking care of all this. But he left last week, and ever since, I’ve been burdened by additional work.”

This was news to me. Most schools probably have a work force that would be proportional to the number of students and courses they offer, due to an existing mandate of one teacher for every 30 students. Going by this logic, an average school with 1000 students would have 50 plus teaching and an equally sizable number or more of non-teaching staff. To me, having an HR department for such an organization appeared to be the most logical thing to do. This is one of the best practices that the corporate world is very particular about.

The bigger picture

If you think deeper, it is a huge problem. Just think of the scenario after the recruitment has happened. In the absence of a qualified HR, who would calculate the employees’ salaries, leaves and other benefits? And we haven’t started to think of activities such as internal communication and organizing events.

Currently, what most schools do is to assign this job to someone who is not specialised, like the accounts person or dump the job to some poor teacher like Nita. The whole recruitment thing is similar to a circus show. They will somehow be able to manage one or two cases. But if it happens on a large scale, it would mean chaos.

Why does this problem exist?

The cost of maintaining an HR team is the most obvious reason. And traditional thinking dictates that part-timers can cover-up for specialists in areas such as recruitment. Convenience can be the other major factor. But modern day technology should be able to provide a more convenient and cost effective method.

How does it impact?

Not having an HR in an organization as big as a school not only affects the productivity of the available resources, but also has an impact on the school’s reputation. A school may not be able to attract talented candidates due to the absence of a proper system. That means the quality of teachers cannot be guaranteed. This directly affects the education students receive. Now, no one would want that.

But the Human Resource Department is not just for recruiting!

Recruitment isn’t the only responsibility of an HR. What about payroll, daily attendance, performance overview, etc? An HR takes care of each and every aspect of workforce management. This is an existing problem in a majority of schools that needs to be addressed because schools are where the foundation of the nation’s future is laid.

Posted on September 12, 2014 by Edsys

Early Years Foundation Stage or EYFS, as it is called, is a framework aimed at physical, social and emotional development of a child in his/ her early years. For that, EYFS has set some guidelines for Early Years providers to follow. They are expected to maintain a profile for each child to record the children’s stage by stage development. Maintaining such a record can help in analysing the skills and areas of improvement of children by the time they turn five years old.

Early years of a child tend to influence what he/she grows to be. Whatever a child learns during the time acts as a base to what he/she gets to learn at later stages of life. This learning happens by means of a series of playful activities, which are known as EYFS activities. Thus, EYFS helps children learn through activities, which would stay in his/ her mind authoritatively for a longer period than what they learn through books.

Maths plays an important role in every person’s daily routine and activities right from the early years. Therefore, maths related EYFS activities are a great way of developing a child’s numerical abilities. This also helps children in their preparation to start school. Here is a list of maths activities that you can introduce as part of EYFS activities at your day care centre/nursery:

Number book

Children love to explore and collect things. As a part of this activity, you can ask children to maintain a number book where children can count and arrange related objects that they have collected.

What children learn

Counting- To Count each object they place in the book
Group-Learn various shapes as they group related objects

Story time

This activity is suitable for children of three to four years of age. Children love stories and challenges. Therefore, this activity means fun for children. You can narrate a story to children, which ends with a problem to solve. This helps in the development of children’s reasoning, numerical, interaction and language ability.

What children learn

Counting for a purpose-to see whether others have also received the same answer
Addition-learning how many will be there if more objects are added
Subtraction-How many will be there if some objects are taken away

Building blocks

Playing with blocks is one activity that children would really enjoy. You can help children in building towers of various shapes using building blocks. This improves thinking ability of children and they get an idea of various shapes

What children learn

Counting-Children learn to analyse how many blocks can make a tower or castle
Shapes-Children learn to select blocks of appropriate shapes that would fit in.
Position-Children learn positional language, such as to the left of, to the right of, on top of etc. and understanding symmetry in placement of blocks to build towers, castles etc. according to children’s choice.

Number songs

Children, even before they learn to speak, react to music. Therefore, any activity involving songs would help them learn faster. You can involve the children in counting and singing by introducing them to songs which involve numbers.

What children learn

Numbers and counting-Number songs activity introduces children to numbers and counting, which includes counting using fingers
Position-Children learn the use of positional language such as next, previous etc.

What is in the bag?

In this activity, you can encourage children to put their hands in a bag and guess what is inside by feeling the shape.

What children learn

Basic shapes-children learn to identify basic shapes such as square, oval, rectangle etc.
Counting- Children can learn to count the number of objects or the sides and corners of the objects they have taken out.

Outdoor maths

Nature is the greatest teacher with the variety of resources it possesses. Therefore, let the children out of the day care centres/nurseries once in a while to interact with nature. Encourage them to collect similarly shaped objects or a certain number of objects. You can also help them in weighing the objects they have collected, thus introducing them to basic lessons of weight and mass.

What children learn

Grouping and Comparison-Children learn to compare objects in terms of size, shape and weight and arrange items according to that
Understanding difference-Children learn to differentiate between sizes and shapes

Shape hunt

This activity can help you to analyse what children understood in terms of shapes. You can keep objects of various shapes in a bucket or a bag and ask the children to pick the shape you suggest.

What children learn

Shapes-Children learn the properties of shapes and what each shape is called

Treasure hunt

This is an outdoor activity, which children will surely enjoy. Hide objects at various locations and give clues to children to find the objects.

What children learn

Directions-Children will get an idea on directions

Step on it

This fun activity helps children to understand numbers easily. You can sing a number song and in the song, you can ask children to step on the number tiles corresponding to the number you mention

What children learn

Numbers-Children learn to identify numbers

Match the numbers

Use number cards and balls or stones or blocks for this fun activity. Ask children to place the exact number of objects on each number card corresponding to the number given in the card.

What children learn

Identify numbers- children learn to identify numbers given in the number cards
Counting-children learn to count the number of objects according to the number given in the number card

Posted on September 3, 2014 by Edsys

Radio Frequency Identification or RFID as it is called, works by allowing data to be transferred from an RFID tag to a reader. RFID, with its ability to locate anything, has been used in a vast number of fields that you may have never even thought of. Here’s a list of RFID applications:

1. Set your style Have you ever heard of a smart fitting room? If your answer is no, it’s time you know more about it. When you are buying a dress, most of your time is wasted in finding out if you’ll look good in it. Smart fitting rooms can help you solve the problem. The RFID powered kiosks in the room will identify the dress and give you the product data as well as suggestions. You can also go through the alternatives. Apart from that, they also give suggestions on the accessories that go with the dress, be it handbags or ties. These smart fitting rooms would help you to define your style as well as save your time.

2. Find golf balls Every golf player deals with the chaos of finding their golf balls, once hitting it. Well, no more headaches!! RFID golf balls can help you there. RFID golf balls contain tiny RFID chips inserted in them, making it easy for players to locate the ball, using a handheld RFID scanner. With the help of the scanner, it is possible to find lost balls from a distance of 30 to 100 feet from where they were hit. This can surely help you in saving your time and money.

3. Improve your Supply Chain Being an owner of a store or a shopping market is not at all easy, especially, when it comes to dealing with manufacturing, shipping and distribution. Sometimes a delay can happen or a product can lose quality. This would in turn affect the reputation of your store. RFID can help you here. With the help of RFID, you can get data real time on the status of individual commodities being imported and take instant actions in case of errors. This can help you to increase efficiency with less errors and improved quality.

4. Track vehicles RFID joins hands with GPS here to track vehicles. This application would come in handy especially in the case of school buses. The RFID school bus tracker by Edsys is one example. Parents and teachers can ensure safety of students using RFID tags. These tags can be attached to the students’ ID cards and students can swipe those tags once they enter the bus. Parents/school authorities in turn get notified via their phones about the whereabouts of students and the vehicle, thus putting an end to safety concerns.

5. No more cheating There are lots of gamblers, who even after being honest in their game, had lost tragically. Cheating is a common activity in casinos and sometimes, it’s difficult to find out. Well, it is easier now with RFID-enabled betting chips. With the help of RFID betting chips, it is easy to monitor each individual, in terms of betting patterns and other improper gaming methods.

6. No more shopping chaos Finding items you need is a huge task when it comes to shopping malls. You have to take the effort to search each and every department or may be ask the staff there, every time you need something. “Smart shopping carts” are on their way to help you out. These carts download your shopping list digitally and RFID guides you to the locations where the items are. This can also help you to easily check out, not having to stay in the long queue, missing almost half the things you really need. With these smart shopping carts, you can save your time, energy and money.

7. Healthcare made efficient News of patients being wrongly operated or equipment being left inside the patients are very common these days. Doctors are in a rush with increase in number of patients and sometimes do not even know any details of a patient once in the operation theatre. An RFID chip on the patient’s hospital bracelet can help in such situations. Also embedding RFID chips in hospital equipments can prevent cases of accidentally leaving equipments inside operated patients. Including RFID in the health department can also help in an efficient healthcare management system, managing traffic in hospitals and monitoring equipment.

8. Interactive marketing RFID in marketing is not very much familiar to people. But it has its own benefits in many ways. RFID in marketing can add to a certain level of interaction with consumers. Than the usual way of giving a message to the consumers, RFID in marketing encourage customers to engage in the brand. This helps customers to know the products better and even give feedback.

9. Track IT assets IT assets like server blades, laptops and tablets are very important for a company. They may even contain the confidential data of a company. To prevent them from going to wrong hands, IT asset tags can be used, which work using RFID. This also helps the IT team of a company in efficient record keeping and to ensure that nothing is misplaced.

10. No more swiping Tired of waiting in the queue to swipe your ticket passes in an amusement park or a stadium? RFID-enabled tickets prove be a solution. These tickets help in keeping track of the movements of each individual. The RFID-enabled tickets tend to be advantageous in parks in terms of putting an end to swiping for each ride, saving wait times and reducing employee costs. There have been several incidents of bomb explosions in stadiums. The RFID-enabled tickets can be useful there as well as it helps to keep track of people.

11. Track your pets We come across at least one column of missing pets in newspapers everyday. RFID is an effective solution to find lost pets. An embedded RFID chip or a collar with an RFID tag can help you to easily track your pets.

12. RFID and sports In marathons and other races which involve a large group of athletes, there are often chances to have disputes regarding race timings. Real Time tracking devices such as RFID shoe tags are attached to the athletes, thus helping the authorities to record the timings of each athlete as they pass the antennas. This has been proven to be an efficient technology in accurate recording of race timings thus helping athletes to analyse their performance.

Well, the list does not end here. With the invention of new RFID applications, it is a fact that the RFID technology is here to stay.

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Edsys

Here are some interesting gps facts – DID YOU KNOW?

1. There are a total of 31 satellites, including 2 reserve satellites, out of which at least 24 GPS satellites orbiting the earth. This means that each GPS satellite orbits the earth in every 12 hours.

2. The basic idea of Geo Positioning System or GPS was based on LORAN and Decca Navigation System, which were used during World War II to help in the navigation of ships and planes at a long range.

3. When Soviet Union launched Sputnik in 1957, two American physicists started monitoring the satellite’s transmissions. They soon realised that they could identify the satellite in its orbit using Doppler Effect . This would later become the key principle used in GPS system. The change in frequency of signals from the GPS satellites helps in identifying locations.

4. GPS was first used by US for military purposes. Their need of a global navigation system during the cold war triggered the introduction of GPS.

5. Before GPS came into existence, navigation system of Navy was being used. Their need of a faster navigation system for high speed air force operations forced them to think whether navigation using satellites is possible.

6. In the beginning, GPS was called Navstar. The first Navstar satellite was launched in 1978. Out of the ten satellites launched, only nine made it to the orbit. The first fully developed GPS satellite was launched in 1989.

7. GPS was open to the public following a disaster. In 1983, Korean Airlines Flight 007 was shot down by Soviet Union killing 269 passengers on board as the flight entered the prohibited Soviet airspace. This incident prompted President Ronald Reagan to provide public access to the United States military satellite navigation system DNSS, which is known as GPS at present.

8. Though availability of GPS was made public, high quality GPS signals were confined to military use until recently. However, on May 1, 2000, this practice was taken off. At present, the GPS for civilian purposes is more accurate.

9. GPS was first introduced in automobiles in 1996.

10. With 31 active satellites in the orbit, GPS has become a part of every gadget we use, ranging from mobiles phones to cars.

11. If you thought GPS was all about navigation, you were wrong. It can also be used to determine the accurate time. Each GPS satellites consist of atomic clocks and time signals that the GPS receiving device can use to obtain the correct time. These signals are used to set the time in our mobile phones.

12. GPS has become very popular that GPS shoes are available in the market now, mainly aimed at locating people with Alzheimer’s disease, in case they get lost.

13. Do you know who invented the GPS navigation system? Bradford Parkinson of the Applied Physics Laboratory, Ivan A. Getting of The Aerospace Corporation, and Roger L. Easton of the Naval Research Laboratory

Posted on September 1, 2014 by Edsys

Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is a framework aimed at the welfare and development of children from birth to the age of five years. Teachers of daycare centers or nurseries, the children are admitted to, will maintain a profile for each child, recording their activities until they are five years old. This will help in assessing the development of the child, his/her positives and weak points and prepare them to enter school.

The best way for a child to start learning is not through books, but through activities they involve in. These activities help children to develop skills, think and to make decisions.

Here are few EYFS activities for children, which can contribute to their development:

1. Painting

Kids love colours. Therefore, painting is one of the best activities suitable for them. Painting gives children ideas about colour and shapes. Also, painting enhances creativity in a child. By painting, children learn to think with an open mind. It also helps them to decide on what works and what does not. Also, the appreciation children get for the work they do, boosts their self-confidence. This is one activity that really helps in the development of kids.

2. Maths Activities

Since mathematics is one of the main subjects in school, this activity would help children have a strong base with numbers. With maths activities, children get introduced to numbers. They’ll have a basic understanding of numbers, what they are and how they are used. Through these activities,teachers can help children learn to count, identify patterns and compare objects. This activity can also increase the confidence of children as they prepare to start school.

3. Letters and sounds

Introduce children into the world of alphabets with these activities. Children, in their early years, tend to be faster learners than adults. They have the ability to mimic pronunciations without any difficulty. You can use letter blocks or alphabet charts to help the children understand and recognize the alphabets better. Recognition of alphabets by a child can be advantageous once he/she starts school.

4. Language development activities

Speech and language abilities of children help them to communicate their needs, build relationships and to express their feelings. The early years tend to be the best time for a child to start learning a language. Language development activities can also include learning words, building sentences etc.

5. Story telling activity

Which child does not like stories? They love listening to stories, which we narrate to them. It is a fact that kids are more imaginative than adults. So, they will definitely love this activity. Unlike the usual routine of adults narrating stories to children, encourage the kids to develop their own stories through these activities. This would help in developing language and creative skills of children.They would also learn to frame sentences.

6. Drama/role play activities

You can use some famous stories or the stories children themselves narrate for drama/role play activities. Assign children to play characters of the story (you can even help them to dress up according to the characters) and help them with the dialogue delivery. Apart from having fun, these activities help children to improve their communicative skills and interaction with other children.

7. Music and dance activities

It is a known fact that children, even before they learn to speak, react to music. Almost all children start moving as they hear music. Therefore, children would surely enjoy this activity. It would also help in improving their skills in terms of extra curricular activities. Children can also get exposed to different types of music through these activities.

8. Outdoor activities

Let the children get out of their nurseries or day care centres and mingle with nature. Nature offers far more things to learn than books or indoors do. Outdoor activities influence a child’s physical, social and emotional development. Outdoor activities give space and freedom to children. They will be able to explore and experiment without limitations. Also, physical activities of children increase once they are outdoors. They would run, play, shout, which help in their physical development.

9. Science activities

Children are always curious about things, especially those in their early years, who question about each and everything they see. Therefore, they will surely find science activities interesting. You can help the child collect things that interest them and sort them or later discuss about it, thus improving their ability to think and their communication skills.

10. Physical activities

A child’s physical development is as important as his/ her mental and emotional development. Physical activities help a child boost his/her concentration, motivation and well-being. This can be done through warm up exercises, games or through action songs.

11. Craft activities

Children love being creative. Therefore, craft activities would be perfect for them. With these activities, children get a basic idea of shapes, size and measurement, thus improving their maths skills as well. Also, they’ll learn to analyse things and make decisions. These activities can also add to the social and emotional development of children as they learn to socialise and share things.

12. Gardening activities

Children love being outdoors and getting dirty. Therefore, they’ll surely enjoy this activity. Gardening instills a sense of responsibility and love towards nature in children. They’ll learn to tender and grow their own plants. Gardening involves teamwork. Therefore, children learn to socialize and have fun.

EYFS activities help children grow and develop themselves, physically, emotionally and socially. Each and everything they encounter in the process would influence their behavior and personality at later stages of life. Also, these activities enable them to recognize and use their skills to the fullest, making them confident and good human beings.

Posted on August 27, 2014 by Edsys

What could be worse than not utilizing an opportunity when you actually have it in your hands? That’s what is happening in Dubai right now. The Knowledge and Human Authority (KHDA), governed by the Government of Dubai, has taken the initiatives for improving the performance of private schools in Dubai. As a result of that, KHDA inspects schools and the reports are published on their website on a regular basis. But it’s very disappointing to see that parents don’t even care to go through them.

“Despite more than 200,000 pupils attending private schools in Dubai, only 26,557 people viewed inspection results and reports by the Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) last year — and many of them weren’t even pupils or parents,” the Gulf News quotes. It shows that parents do not bother to enquire about the quality of schools before admitting their child and those parents, whose children are already in school, do not tend to evaluate the performance of the schools.

The KHDA has been publishing reports since 2009, to help parents in finding the right school for their children and to make the parents, whose children are already in school, aware of the school’s performance. Some parents just read the summarized reports that come in newspapers but do not go online and check the reports in detail. Some parents are just aware of the inspections happening in their kids’ schools, but they are not even aware that the reports are available online.

Hind Al Mulla, who is the Chief of Engagement, KHDA, says that parents should make use of the inspection reports to the fullest for providing better education to their children. “Reports enable parents to make informed decisions about their child’s education and future. Parents are able to contrast and compare the results of different schools, focusing on everything from academia to extra-curricular activities and student life,” Mr. Mulla says.

According to the reports, 154,901 people visited the KHDA website in the year 2012; however, only 6,103 went through the publication section containing KHDA inspection reports and other schools reports. But there was a slight increase in the figures last year. Out of the 337,628 people who visited KHDA website last year, 26,557 went through the online publication section. This shows a steady growth in the number of visitors viewing KHDA publications online.

“We are expecting the number this year to be the highest. We will continue to engage parents through various channels of communication. In addition to online reports, we offer smart services,” Mr. Mulla says. The figures show that in the first two quarters of 2014, the number of people who accessed the KHDA website were 204,139. Out of that, 18,776 people viewed the KHDA inspection reports and the other reports online.

KHDA is a regulatory authority aimed at providing quality education to students of private schools in Dubai and has hence set some guidelines for the schools to follow. They inspect schools on a regular basis and publish their reports online as an effort to improve performances of schools.

Posted on August 22, 2014 by Edsys

Haven’t you seen some children of a particular age group growing up to be rebels while some children of the same age group are quite and peaceful? If you have ever wondered why there is such a difference in their behaviour or character, the answer is simple. It is the environment in which a child grows up and the things that he/she learns in the process that influences a child’s development. Every parent wishes their children to grow into good individuals and that is exactly the motive of Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) as well. EYFS aims at giving children a good beginning socially and academically. It is achieved through play and activities including children-teacher interactions. EYFS framework sets a few guidelines to the providers of children up to the age of five years to ensure that the children are given good care.

How did the idea of EYFS originate?

Now where did the idea of EYFS come from? Let’s have a peek into the history of EYFS, about how it started and why. Early years of a child play an important role in his/her development and what he/she turns out to be in future. Anything that the child learns or encounters during the phase tends to impact his/her development into an adult. In short,early years of childhood influences a child’s intelligence, behaviour and personality as he/she grows up. EYFS implemented the developmental standards of a child keeping all these points in mind. The frame work of Early Years Foundation Stage was first implemented in England in September 2008. However, it was later revised and that version came into effect in September 2012. The revised version was meant to reduce the load of providers in terms of extra paper works and regulations and to save enough time to support in their development. Location of a child can also affect his/her development. In that way, EYFS turns versatile. EYFS, through its guidelines, tend to make sure that wherever the early year providers are, the care and education given to children meets the required standards. EYFS aims at

Stable and quality development of children throughout their early years.
To provide a strong base for children that would help them as they step into school and as they grow into adults.
Providing opportunities to all children to bring out their full potential.

EYFS did not get a warm reception when it was first implemented. It failed to grab much attention then. But, with time, more and more day care centres and nurseries came up, adding to the convenience of working parents. They adopted EYFS framework for better management and development of children.

How does EYFS Framework work?

In all those years when a child is admitted to a daycare or nursery up to when he/she turns five years old, the providers are expected to maintain an EYFS profile. Each child would have separate profiles. These EYFS profiles help in the assessment of how a child has been developing in his/her early years. It would also give an idea about the characteristics of the child and areas the child is good at. The providers would also interact with parents regarding the progress of their child and regarding the extended learning at home.

How does it help?

When you admit your child in school, you would give primary attention to how your child is performing academically. In most cases, parents fail to understand the skills their children possess. Through the EYFS framework, providers take note of development of children stage by stage that it would be easy to assess the activities your child is good at. This can also help in understanding areas of weakness in children. It would provide the parents an opportunity to help their children out, thus bringing out the full potential in a child. The assessment of children is based on three important areas of learning and development

Personal, social and emotional development

This area looks at children’s confidence and behaviour and how they interact with others, be it adults or other children.

Physical development

This area emphasises physical skills of a child. A child learns how to dress, eat etc. Also, they are taught ways of keeping healthy.

Communication and language

This area focuses on children’s speech and language. Also, they are helped to develop skills, which may prove to be helpful in future when they learn to read and write.

Impact of EYFS

When EYFS framework was first implemented, there were many controversies surrounding it. It was termed ‘nappy curriculum’ by media and people believed that it forced children to be ready to go to school, in their early years. People felt that more than helping in the development of children, EYFS framework could actually harm them. There were lots of debates on whether it had to be withdrawn. However, with time, all those controversies died down and the EYFS framework was widely accepted and it proved to be a success. According to the inspections conducted various early year providers in England by Ofsted, a non ministerial government department based on England, there has been a tremendous improvement in results of EYFS profiles since 2008.

EYFS applications to help providers

Now, teachers do not have to struggle any more for creating individual profiles of children. Edsys has introduced a mobile application as well as a desktop application, which serve to be of great use to teachers. They can capture images of children’s activities and save them in the profiles of each child and give grades and add comments along with that. Teachers can also easily share those photographs with parents through chat, Bluetooth etc.

Posted on August 18, 2014 by Edsys

Private education and learning in Dubai are regulated by Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), which may also include the school your child studies in or the school you work in. With KHDA assessing the schools, you can know how good the performance of a particular school is just by looking at their rating.

If you are not familiar with KHDA, here is a glimpse of what KHDA is and the role it plays in improving the performance of private schools in Dubai:

KHDA, which is a part of Government of Dubai, plays a pivotal role in ensuring quality education to private schools in Dubai. KHDA monitors all institutions under private education sector of Dubai. The main motive of KHDA is to develop the education sector of Dubai to meet international standards, so that students would be well prepared to meet the fast moving world. KHDA has hence set some guidelines for the schools they monitor to follow.

How KHDA Monitors Schools?

KHDA ensures quality education to students using Dubai School Inspections Bureau (DSIB) and Regulations and Compliance Committee (RCC). These are subsidiary bodies of KHDA with specific duties.

DSIB

Dubai School Inspections Bureau (DSIB), is a team of school inspectors who visit the private schools in Dubai frequently to ensure the quality standards are met consistently. DSIB submits ratings of each inspected school, which would then be published in the KHDA website. These reports are usually submitted by DSIB in September.

While assessing the schools in Dubai, DSIB judges them based on a four-point scale. The four levels on the scale are:

Outstanding-When the performance of schools is exceptionally well.
Good-When the school meets expected educational standards in Dubai.
Acceptable-This level of performance of schools is acceptable in Dubai; however, the schools are expected to perform above this level.
Unsatisfactory-This is when quality of performance by schools in Dubai are below the expected level. Schools would have to take necessary measures to improvise their standard in terms of performance or practice at this level.

RCC

KHDA’s Regulations and Compliance Committee (RCC) is responsible for inspecting private schools in Dubai to ensure that they follow KHDA guidelines, which are mandatory. That is also an effort to fulfill KHDA’s aim to develop the standards of private schools in Dubai.

Apart from setting standards for improving performance of schools, KHDA has also set guidelines in terms of advertising by schools and for events and field trips conducted by schools. It is necessary for the schools to let KHDA know when they are planning to market or advertise the schools in any media.

KHDA rankings are not based on how much money has been invested by schools. It is based on the right management and the ways adopted to improve performance and standards of schools.

Now if you are looking forward to improve your schools’ performance, here are some practices of schools that KHDA is looking upon in 2014, to assess the schools:

1. Taking Care Of Special Education Needs

In a school, there may be children with different learning abilities. In 2014, KHDA plans to focus on schools, which attend to the needs of children who have difficulty in learning, or children who are differently abled or have special talents. KHDA would look upon:

Syllabus modified by school, relevant equally for normal children and children who have difficulty in learning.
The schools should support students with special needs or disabilities, preparing them to face the world.

2. School Management System

Many schools with less monetary support may think that it is not possible for them to afford to have a good school management system. However, having an effective school management system can have its own advantages. It makes work easier and the employees of the school would be able to save time for other activities, hence increasing the productivity and reducing expenditure. Better school management can be done by implementing

RFID School Bus Tracking System
Work Force Management etc.

3. EncouragingArabic & Islamic Education

Since Government of Dubai has taken initiatives to protect the tradition and heritage of the country, KHDA is giving importance on appointing efficient Arabic and Islamic teachers to improve the performance of students in Arabic and Islamic Education in private schools.

4. Appointment of qualified teachers

As an approach in developing the education sector of Dubai, DSIB would be inspecting whether private schools in Dubai are hiring qualified teachers. DSIB would assess the teachers based on their

Knowledge on the subject
Ability to promote creative and imaginative skills of students apart from books
Approach towards students
Teaching methods and ability to plan the next step
Ability to encourage self-management in children

5. Students’ Personal & Social Development

KHDA focuses on the development of students on personal and social front. Therefore, in 2014, KHDA would look upon the measures taken by teachers of private schools in Dubai in encouraging

Leadership qualities in students
Discipline and self-management skills
Humanity and love towards humans, animals and environment
Positive response towards advices
Healthy lifestyle

By other countries taking up stands such as Government of Dubai and KHDA, it is possible to improve their education sector, thereby, creating an efficient work force, adding to the economy of the country.

Is your school finding it difficult to cope up with KHDA standards?

As the inspections happen very frequently, it is important that schools monitor their quality standards throughout the year. This is where Real-time Institution Management System (RIMS) from Edsys provides schools with an advantage. The integrated modules in this system ensure that the school authorities are notified when there is a compromise in the quality standards of a particular school.

But in order to enjoy the benefits of the KHDA Inspection software, a school will have to employ Real-time Institution Management System (RIMS). It is a comprehensive system that makes the overall management of your school easy. There are smart card solutions, GPS Tracking System, Attendance Management, School App and a lot more systems that ensure ease of management as well as student safety.

Posted on June 5, 2014 by Edsys

Having a parent portal seems to be very useful from a school administrator’s perspective. It provides them a single point reference to all the school related activities of a student. But, the people who are first and foremost concerned and connected to a child’s welfare are obviously his or her parents. So, what does our parent portal offer to parents?

Get Best Free Parental Apps (Check it Now)

On logging in, a parent lands to the home page or the dashboard of our parent portal. Here you can find a top navigation pane as well as a side navigation menu. The top/horizontal navigation menu has five options – the Dashboard, Online Payment, Academic Calendar, Notification Center, and Communication Center. In the side menu, the parents can find different modules to generate reports such as Results, Attendance and Fee. Below that, there are also modules related to school work such as assignments and study materials. Let us look at what all of these offers to a parent.

1. Main Menu

Online Payment: Physically going to the school to make payment, or entrusting a child with the fee amount are not the best options for today’s working parents. With our online payment portal, they don’t have to do either. They can conveniently login to the online portal and pay the dues from their internet connected device from anywhere using their credit/debit card or by net banking.

Academic Calendar: The academic calendar will provide a comprehensive view of the various events in a school year. From annual day and exam time to holidays, the parent can know the dates by looking at it. Parents can also find out about the student’s attendance by looking at the academic calendar.

Notification Center: Parents can keep up with the latest happenings by just taking a peek at the notification center. It might be a circular about an upcoming quiz competition or it might be the announcement of the exam schedule. All of this information along with school bus attendance messages will be displayed in the notification center, which is just a click away for parents.

Communication Center: Parents can stay updated about their children’s progress and behaviour in school at the communication center. It allows them to exchange feedback to the school principal or teachers.

2. Reports

Results Module: Parents get easy access to their children’s results from this module. They can see the detailed semester wise reports of how children have performed in various subjects. The results can be downloaded in PDF format for your convenience.

Attendance Module: The attendance module, as the name suggests, is a comprehensive view of students’ attendance. It lets the parent know the number of days their children has been present and absent from their classes.

Fee Module: Want to know how much amount has been paid as fees for the whole year? Parents can now get the complete details using our fee module. They can also find out the details about fee dues. All from their Internet connected device.

3. School Work

Assignments/Home Work: Parents can conveniently find out what assignments are there for their children and download them as PDF files. Once the assignment or home work is completed by the child, parents can upload it as PDF files to the parent portal.

Study Material Module: Study material will be provided as downloadable PDF files in the Academic section. Parents can either view it on the screen or download it according to their convenience.

4. Multiple Profiles

If a parent has more than one child studying in the same school, then the parent can view both children’s details from the same login. For instance, in the case of attendance, a parent can choose which child’s profile needs to be checked from inside the attendance module.

ParentApp

The Online Parent Portal is a comprehensive solution for parents. However, a dedicated mobile application would obviously be more convenient to carry around and access. ParentApp is exactly that and a little bit more. It can do pretty much everything that is possible with the online portal.

Highlights

• Attendance Tracking – Parents can track the children’s attendance on the go, at their convenience.

• Results – They get detailed semester-wise results complete with grades received for each subject

• Track Fee – Parents can find out if there are any fee arrears

• School Bus Tracker –This solution helps parents to pin point the real-time location of their children’s school bus

• Notice board – Parents can view schedules, time tables, circulars etc
from the school in PDF format

• Communication Center – Parents are notified of critical messages with push notifications, bridging the communication gap between teachers and parents. They can also initiate conversations with the school principal and teachers

Get Best Free Parental Apps (Check it Now)

• Feedback Section – This section allows parents to send feedback to teachers on their children’s progress and activities.

The online parent portal will be hosted alongside the school website. It helps parents to communicate with teachers and stay informed about their children’s progress and discipline at school. All details for parents like school circulars, fee payment details, marks and attendance are reported through the portal. Parents with multiple children studying in the same school need only one login to view all details. The ParentApp is the icing on the cake as it provides a solution for busy parents to keep track of their children’s school life.