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SMS messaging benefits schools | BulkSMS.com

March 5, 2008

Many schools are readily adopting SMS messaging as SMS provides them with an instantaneous and cost-effective way of staying in contact with the parents of school-goers.

Schools usually send notices to parents via their children or communicate with parents by telephone, email, or in person at parent-teacher meetings. The former is acknowledged as not a completely reliable way of sending important messages while the latter communication channels are both time consuming and costly for schools. Furthermore, many parents do not have regular access to the internet to read emails or are unable to visit the school due to work commitments.

“Most parents have a cellphone and can receive important announcements from the school via SMS. With SMS messaging, schools have a more effective and cost-efficient way of communicating with parents,” said Dr Pieter E. Streicher, managing director of BulkSMS.com, a Cape Town based mobile messaging company.

By using a bulk messaging solution, a school is able to send out one message to all relevant parties at one go. According to Dr Streicher, “SMS is a good way to keep parents informed – whether it is a notification that a learner is absent from school or will be returning home with a report card, a reminder about a parent/teacher meeting or a sporting event, an announcement for a forthcoming school social or theatre production, or a call to parents to pay outstanding school fees.”

Schools are finding that SMS communications reduces expenses such as phone bills, photocopying, printing and mailing. It also reduces staff workload, frees up time that would otherwise be spent on preparing communications by school administrators or teachers.

“Not only does using SMS messaging benefit the school; it also allows schools to communicate to the parents in a way that includes them in the day to day school life of their child,” said Dr Streicher.

More and more schools are using the BulkSMS Text Messenger service to send SMS’s to parents. This desktop application is user-friendly, and makes sending an SMS as easy as sending an email. In addition, BulkSMS.com offers schools a part-sponsored tagline discount when they register on the Community.BulkSMS.com website. This has the advantage of offering the schools a reduced cost when sending SMS messages.