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Bad signals for wagging schoolCAMERON ENGLAND
April 10, 2007 11:30pm
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INDIAN students who think they are 'too cool for school' could be in trouble following a deal signed by Adelaide company MGM Wireless.

The Adelaide-based software company has signed a two-year licensing agreement with Indian company Roltin Global to distribute MGM's messageyou school attendance management system.
The system works by alerting parents to their children's absence from school using text messages.

Roltin Global is part of the Texspin group owned by the Makwana family.

Vishal Makwana, who will be managing director of the messageyou India team, said India's upper classes had a strong focus on education.

"Middle-class families will pay any price to get their children into the most prestigious schools," Mr Makwana said.

"But these 'benchmarking' schools in turn will expel students who are not performing academically because they have to maintain their standing. Messageyou provides flexible communication for both schools and families.

"It optimises school attendance which inevitably results in better grades and it relies on the most popular personal communication platform in India - text messaging on mobile phones."

Mr Makwana said despite Indian children having a great deal of respect for their parents, this did not stop them from wagging school.

"But it does mean that even the presence of the messageyou solution will act as an immediate deterrent," he said.

MGM chairman Mark Fortunatow said the deal was an important strategic move into a region with a fast-growing middle class.

"In the private sector alone the market is more than 100 times larger than the entire Australian schools market," Mr Fortunatow said.

The rollout will start in some of the most prestigious benchmarking schools in Ahmedabad, Mr Fortunatow said.

MGM signed a distribution deal with California-based education software specialists, VIP Tone, last month after opening an office in California's Silicon Valley earlier in the year.

MGM shares closed 3c higher at 11c yesterday.