Every evening, many parents are always eager to receive their children back at home. However, some parents have undergone nightmares when their children fail to report back at home from school.
Seven-year-old twins Tracy and Sherlyn vanished without trace moments after they were picked at the school gate by a vehicle in Nakuru Town.
Their mother Magdalene Waceke had hired a tuk-tuk operator to transport them to and from the school.
However, two years since they were picked from the school gate by unknown persons, they are yet to be traced. Ms Waceke is yet to come to terms with the disappearance of her children.
DEVASTATED
When Ms Miriam Kimatu dropped her second born child at the school gate, little did she know this would be the last time she was seeing her son.
She has remained devastated following the disappearance of her eight-year-old son. The boy disappeared moments after leaving the school gate in Free Area on the outskirts of Nakuru Town.
Ms Consolata Kemunto, a single mother, will never forget the one week her nine –year-old daughter disappeared moments after she left the school on March 1, 2016.
Her daughter was however, found by a Good Samaritan who took her to police.
These are just a few cases of harrowing moments that parents face due to missing children.
In a bid to calm the parents’ anxiety, a school in Nakuru Town has developed an App that sends an alert to parents the moment their children arrive or are picked from school.
“These days, children disappear after they are dropped at school gate or when they leave the school. There are instances when I used to receive calls in the middle of the night of missing pupils and this prompted us to rethink our security and that is why we came up with this App,” said Prof Miriam Gaceri Kinyua, the director of Kagaki School in Ngata area on the outskirts of Nakuru Town.
PERSONAL DETAILS
The App popularly known as Kagaki on the Go App, monitors the children attendance in school and movement after the school.
“The parents are informed early enough when the children enter or leave the school compound,” said Prof Gaceri.
The App also captures those walking out of school as it contains the pupils’ details such as their names, time of arrival and departure from school, and parents contacts.
It has a google map and in case the bus develops mechanical problems, it can easily be located.
It also contains the names of the various stages along the routes and full names of the more than 500 pupils.
“The pupils have a barcode pinned on their bags and the teacher on duty, school driver and his conductor swipes their smartphones on the barcode and it automatically sends a message to the parents that their children have boarded the bus at specific time,” said Prof Gaceri.
Parents who do not have smartphones receives text messages on their phones.
BAR CODES
The parent is informed some five minutes in advance when the school bus is about to drop their children at designated stages near their homes.
“This gives parents ample time to prepare to receive their children,” she added.
She said this enables parents to monitor the time their children take to arrive home after they are dropped at their respective stages.
“When we launched the App, some parents were opposed to it but they have now embraced the App,” said Prof Gaceri.
“Should the children take longer time to reach home, the parents call the school or home to establish whether the children have arrived home safely. They no longer have to wait until late in the evening to know if their children are back home,” she explained.
“This App serves both as security and discipline measures as children now know they have to be at home within the shortest time after leaving school,” said Prof Gaceri.
She said many parents are now able to monitor their children’s movements. “It has considerably relieved the parents the daily stress of worrying about the safety of their children,” she said.
The school pays Sh50,000 per month to maintain the App.