Streamlining Education with Bulk SMS

Bulk SMS can improve communication between teachers, students and parents. Here are the different options available to schools who want to implement an SMS solution to support better year-end student results.

Well, we all know what happened in terms of academics last year – it’s still in the newspapers and I’m sure it’s a thought constantly nagging at the back of the minds of the parents of this year’s matriculants – will they achieve better results than those from last year? But to avoid dwelling on the sensitive topic, let’s take a look at ways schools can improve their chances for success in the future through bulk SMS.

Before we get to the ‘how’ in terms of bulk SMS, let’s have a look at the ‘why’. Why should schools implement bulk SMS and what are the possible advantages? Here’s a short list of benefits that may include a few from last week’s post:

1. Bulk SMS can improve teacher-parent communication
   • Test results: “Dear Mrs. Johnson, please note that your child received 50% for the recent maths test”
   • Class attendance: “Dear Mrs. Johnson, Johnny did not attend class/school today”
   • Teacher-parent evenings: “Dear Mrs. Jonson, just a reminder about the Parents Evening on Monday, 8 Jan”
   • Exam date reminders: “Mrs Johnson, maths test on Friday for all 10th grade pupils. Please ensure Johnny is ready.”
   • School fee reminders: “Dear Mrs Johnson, please remember to settle the school fees by Feb. 28th”

This means that teachers will be able to get in touch with parents to communicate important information via bulk SMS.


2. Use bulk SMS to bolster teacher-student communication
   • Test date: “Johnny, maths test on Friday, p86 – p 108. Counts 5% of final mark.”
   • Project due date: “Johnny, life sciences project due Monday, 18 Jan”
   • School events: “Soccer match this Saturday – come support your team!”
   • School activities: “Trip to art museum on Tuesday 19 Jan – bring your notebook”

How much communication can there be between students and their teachers via bulk SMS? Quite a lot, actually, given the fact that throughout the year, there will be plenty of tests, activities and events to be attended. Here are a couple of examples:


3. SMS is affordable
   • Web-based SMS: Allows the sending of bulk SMS messages over the internet using a fairly recent browser.
   • Desktop SMS: An application installed on a desktop computer that allows the sending of bulk SMS messages over the internet.
   • Application Programming Interfaces (API’s): Schools with the required resources will be able to make use of any of the available API’s to integrate it with their native software environment.

Sticking to a school budget whilst providing pupils with opportunities in addition to an education can be a headache for most teachers. Bulk SMS provides an affordable communication alternative that will help schools save on telephone costs, paper and postage, among others.

Implementing Bulk SMS

Implementing SMS as a communication solution between teachers, parents and students might sound like an expensive and difficult operation to some, but it can be quite the reverse. Due to the various readily available technologies, bulk SMS can be implemented, with little more than an internet connection and a web browser.

If you are in education and curious about the full range of benefits regarding SMS communication, then follow the link to read more about bulk SMS.

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