Parent portal for schools in Kenya
One account for a parent, covering every one of their children, even when those children are at different schools in the group. Fee balance and receipts, payment by M-Pesa, results, attendance, the diary and the school bus, on the phone they already own.
The office is answering questions it should not have to
A school office spends a substantial part of every day answering four questions: what do I owe, did you receive my payment, how did my child do, and where is the bus. None of these need a member of staff. All of them get one because the parent has no other way to find out.
Parents are not being difficult. They are being responsible about money they are working hard to send. Without a way to check, the only option is to ring the school, and at four hundred families that becomes somebody’s entire job.
The family with children at two schools in the same group has it worse. Two sets of logins, two sets of messages, and no single view of what they owe in total.
How Enaton handles it
The parent signs in once with their phone number and sees all of their children. If they have a child in the primary school and another in the secondary school of the same group, both are in one place with one balance to understand.
Everything the office would have told them is already there, and it is the same figure the school is looking at rather than a copy that was accurate last week.
Money
- The current balance per child and across the family
- Every receipt, kept, and shareable with a sponsor or guardian
- Pay by M-Pesa without leaving the portal or remembering a paybill number
- A statement showing what was charged, what was paid and what is left
School life
- Results and report cards when the school releases them
- Attendance, so a parent knows their child arrived
- The diary, including homework, with two way messages to the class teacher
- Announcements from the school, in one place rather than scattered across WhatsApp groups
The bus
- Live tracking, with an estimate of when it reaches their stop
- Notification when their child boards
- The route and stop their child is assigned to this term
Signing in
A parent signs in with their phone number and a code, and can set up a faster sign in afterwards so they are not entering a code every time. There is no password to forget, which removes the most common reason a parent stops using a portal after two weeks.
Who this is for
Front office staff stop answering the same four questions all day. Bursars get fewer disputes because the parent can see their own history. Parents get answers at ten at night without ringing anyone. Directors get parents who feel informed, which is what makes them recommend the school at the gate.
Parent portal before and after
How it usually goes
- The office spends a large part of every day answering four questions: what do I owe, did you get my payment, how did my child do, and where is the bus
- A family with children at two schools in the group juggles two logins, two sets of messages and no single total
- A parent who wants to pay has to find the paybill number and the right account reference, then hope it landed correctly
- Announcements, homework and results are scattered across several WhatsApp groups and a printed letter that never came home
- A parent forgets their password, gives up after two weeks, and rings the office again
With Enaton
- All four answers are already on the parent’s phone, and they are the same figures the school is looking at
- One sign in covers every child a parent has across the group, with one family total to understand
- They pay by M-Pesa inside the portal. The balance moves and the receipt is issued before they put the phone down
- Results, attendance, the diary, homework, announcements and the bus sit in one place, released when the school decides
- They sign in with their phone number and a code, then set up a faster sign in. There is no password to forget
Want to see this on your own school?
Bring a fee structure and a class list. Thirty minutes, no slides, and we will tell you what it would cost and how long moving would take.
From as low as KES 4,060 a month, never per learner. Every module, migration, training and support included.
Questions we get about this
Can one parent see children at different schools?
Yes. One account covers every child a parent has across the group, with one place to see what the family owes in total. This is one of the main reasons groups move to us.
Do parents need to install an app?
No. It works in the browser on the phone they already have, which matters when a family is watching their data.
Can parents pay directly from the portal?
Yes, by M-Pesa, without needing to remember a paybill or account number. The balance updates and the receipt is issued straight away.
Can both parents have access?
Yes, and guardians as well. Each has their own sign in, so a receipt is not stuck on one parent’s phone.
What if a parent changes their phone number?
The school updates it in the registry and the parent signs in with the new number. Their history stays with them.
Does the school control what parents can see?
Yes. Results in particular are released when the school decides, not the moment a teacher enters a mark.
Bring your own numbers. We will show you this working
Thirty minutes with your classes, terms and fee structure. No slides.