The National Mobile Service Provider, Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, along with the Ministry of Education today inaugurated the implementation of the student iCard project amongst schools in Sri Lanka. Royal College, Colombo is the first school to start using the iCard for attendance monitoring. The ceremonial handing over of the first few iCards to students of Royal College was carried out by Hon. Bandula Gunawardene, Minister of Education.

Also joining the student iCard project is Sri Sangamitta Balika Vidyalaya. Minister of Telecommunication and Information Technology, Hon. Ranjith Siyambalapitiya handed over the first few iCards to students of Sri Sangamitta Balika Vidyalaya at today’s ceremony.

The iCard contains vital information of the student such as name, school admission number, photograph, validity period, emergency contact number and card number. The NFC card reader devices set up at entrance points at the school allow students to ‘tap’ in their attendance. A pre-defined cut off time ensures that students’ attendance information is conveyed to parents via SMS. Apart from monitoring the student’s attendance, the iCard can be used as a payment card to be utilised within the school premises such as the canteen, bookshop and school bus and so on. The iCard management system will generate valuable management reports increasing the productivity and efficiency of the administration of the school.

Speaking at the event Minister Gunawardene said, “The initiation of the iCard project is a good example that the government is taking an active role in introducing new initiatives for the development of the education sector in Sri Lanka. This project will not only accentuate school attendance, but will also make a considerable improvement in the child’s security and bring an ease of mind to parents. In addition, the fact that the iCard could be used as a payment system will also minimize the risk of children having excess money with them.”

Minister Siyambalapitiya sharing his thoughts on the initiative said, “The introduction of the iCard service by Mobitel is yet another example of how quickly the telecommunication landscape in Sri Lanka is evolving to beyond just phone calls and text messages. It is very satisfying to see organisations such as Mobitel taking the initiative to lead in new innovations in line with the government’s goals of developing the nation. Initiatives like this must be lauded for the role it plays in bringing Sri Lanka on par with other countries in the region.”

T2 Acting CEO of Mobitel, Mr. Kapila Chandrasena commented, “Mobitel has been a key catalyst in taking Sri Lanka towards the digital age and meeting the Government’s ICT policy. The iCard is just another development towards this initiative, using latest technologies like NFC for the administration and management of school activities. The iCard will aid the optimization of productivity of school activities in multiple ways. While tracking the student’s attendance, the iCard can be utilized to generating digital reports and create a more technologically advanced environment within the administration of the school. As the National Mobile Service Provider, Mobitel continues to implement new initiatives in a bid to uplift the country’s ICT sector. I must extend my gratitude towards Minister Gunawardena and Minister Siyambalapitiya for all their guidance and assistance rendered towards this project.”

Speaking at the launch, Royal College’s Principal, Mr. H.A. Upali Gunasekara stated, “We are proud to be the first school to be associated with this project and this further strengthens our relationship with Mobitel. The iCard will not only help the school to keep track of students’ attendance, it will also provide the assurance that parents need that their children are indeed attending school. This card will also help the common issue of truancy faced by most schools. In future, we can also utilize this card further for other school services as well.”

iCard is the second NFC based solution designed by Mobitel, following the NFC fuel management solution and is an outcome of Mobitel’s multi-tenant and state-of-the art NFC platform infrastructure that is ISO/IEC 18092 and ISO/IEC 14443-A compliant.