Text service alerts parents to truancy

A text service that allows parents to be informed if their child is playing truant has been launched.

Schools-SMS is a web-based service that consists of two major services, absence management and rewards schemes, which has been launched by Clickatell and 123 Consultants.

Parents register to the scheme by giving their mobile phone details and inventing a password that will let them access the service. They are then informed if their child is absent from school or can advise if their child is off sick via a text message.

Peter Coats, head teacher at Wenesfield High School, West Midlands, which is using the service, said: "We are excited by the opportunities that SMS.Com is going to provide for our school to work even more closely with parents."

The text service can also be used by schools to send announcements for events, such as parents' evenings. This not only ensures parents are more likely to receive the announcement but also saves schools the cost of paper and printing - it costs 4p for every text sent. If an announcement is too long then a text is sent to warn parents that a letter is on its way.

The system can deliver texts in several languages and also to landlines via text translation for parents who do not have a mobile phone.

As well as helping out the school admin department, a rewards scheme gives school children a chance to earn free text messages. By signing up to the service children are sent a series of multiple text questions; if they get the answers right then they win text credits that accumulate to free texts.

“Although most teenagers can’t touch type, they can send a message without looking at their phone and it’s about time schools woke up to the fact that mobile phones are a way of life amongst teenagers,” said Phil Colledge, spokesman for 123 Consultants.

“Therefore schools and educationalists need to exploit the potential of mobile technology and use it to educate and engage young people, instead of simply banning phones.”