The summer ends, and a new school and university season begin. With it, new challenges not only for students; parents, teachers and administrative staff of each educational entity have a greater responsibility: to ensure the safety and normal functioning of the academic activities of the former.

For more than a year, the education industry has been preparing for a challenge: the return to face to face classes in the middle of a pandemic. Knowing the multiple fronts to be monitored in this scenario, technology has taken a step further to ensure the safe return to schools.

Some of the technologies that will help with the return to school are:

1. Traceability to suspected cases of Covid-19.

2. Monitoring of participants in academic activities.

3. Positioning in case of evacuation.

4. Control of documentation of employees and contractors.

5. Regulation of money for dining and photocopying services.

Next, we will see a little more of each of them.

1. Traceability to suspected cases of Covid-19

Although European countries returned to face-to-face attendance since January 2021 under strict biosecurity protocols, in Latin America, the return has been more gradual, and some educational venues are just preparing to reopen their doors, in particular schools.

According to a UNICEF report published a year after the arrival of Covid-19 in Latin America, schools in the region remained closed for 158 days, a notable difference compared to the global average of 95 days. Therefore, both this and multiple multilateral organizations have made an urgent call to resume face-to-face attendance as soon as possible, but not in any way.

The American  Academy of Pediatrics has recalled in a recent article a series of measures to ensure the safe return to the classrooms, which in turn have been the pledge of the triumphant return in Europe: the mandatory use of masks and the marked distancing of the desks in each room.  

To guarantee this type of measure, there are solutions such as those offered by Alutel Mobile, which allows the allocation of positions in the corresponding classroom. Likewise, just by twisting their respective student card on some tablets distributed to teachers, it is possible to register the income of each student with their respective photo and immediately send this report to their parents or guardians.

In this way, in case of a suspected or positive case of Covid-19 by a student, it is possible to track and isolate their classmates located in the nearest posts, and not the entire classroom. And this applies equally to university centers and not only to classrooms.

2. Control of participants in academic activities

Unlike the headquarters of primary and baccalaureate educational institutions, there are university fields with closed areas and other open ones that are combined with buildings and public roads. In one case or another, one of the most challenging situations to control is the presence of people outside academic activities programmed in these scenarios.

Through the Alutel Mobile solution, logistics staff at the entrance of one or another place can verify the attendee's credentials: whether they are part of the guests as part of a closed event, they are students or not; even, if you have a certain restriction due to the non-payment of an educational service.

On the other hand, after the meeting, in the event that one of the attendees reports having contracted coronavirus, the application allows to identify those who were located around him and warn them to comply with the isolation protocol. In this way, it is avoided to generate a massive alarm for the rest of those who have attended.  

3. Positioning in case of evacuation

Beyond this post-event warning, all kinds of emergencies can occur during the event that leads to an immediate evacuation of the place. Thanks to Alutel's mustering solution, the organizers of the same can identify the evacuated attendees, previously registered, and place them in safe points.

To that extent, after the protocol indications to evacuate through specific exits and groups at an assigned meeting point, the administrative staff in charge can inform themselves and inform themselves in real-time who is safe, but also locate those participants who have not left to eventually help them. 

4. Control of documentation of employees and contractors

During the time when the entry of students to schools and universities was restricted, a good part of the educational centers took the opportunity to carry out internal reforms, among others, for the adoption of the respective biosecurity protocols. In those circumstances, their most frequent visitors were different employees and contractors. 

To verify these visits in advance, effectively, and have control of the documentation that supports the work of the personnel to operate in each sector of the respective facilities, Alutel has the Alutocmodule. This allows the contractor company to self-manage the information of its employees, which is centralized on a tablet managed by the guards of the educational center, who only need to authorize their entry. 

5. Regulation of money for dining and photocopying services

Last but not least, one of the services with which technology has been provided, foreseeing challenges of then and now in the school environment, is the management of electronic money, instead of cash, for dining services and photocopies, among others. 

Knowing the arbitrary use that primary and high school students can give to the money given by their parents for snacks or lunch, and also stationery expenses or purchases of common implements that are processed in schools (from pens or rules to garments of the same institution), there is the Tikas solution.   

Thanks to this platform offered by Alutel, parents can monitor the money allocated to their children for specific purposes. A credit that they keep in a card to be registered on the tablets manipulated by the administrative staff of the dining room or the internal sale of tools to provide a more effective service in every way. 

You know then what to pack in your suitcase back to school. Learn more about Alutel Mobile's solutions here.