Little seems to have changed on the ground since the horrific incidents of child abuse came to light at a leading private school in Bangalore in July 2014. What is even more worrying is the perpetrators are still at large.
As per a recent PwC report, there was a 24% increase in crimes against children between 2010 and 2011 and a further 52.5% increase from 2012 to 2013. With over 58000 cases (source: NCRB) reported in 2013 alone, this menace is reaching epic proportions.
It’s no wonder that Schools today, are having to deal with far more anxious parents than ever before. It’s a very real challenge for schools as they find it practically impossible to monitor every child and staff member individually taking valuable away from teaching and other activities.
Some schools are even refraining from activities like Sports & Physical trainings as they often involve contractual Male staff, thus depriving the children of holistic development they deserve.
Likewise, parents too are distraught not knowing who to trust with their children. Busy city life and specially working couples are even more anxious considering their dependability on Day-Care, nannies and School transport. To top it all, new incidents keep happening with an alarming frequency.
This presents a unique challenge for both parents and School authorities with very high stakes.
There was an urgent need to find a solution that not only enhances the safety of the children, but in a way that doesn’t hamper or interfere with the school’s functioning or the child’s development.
This is when Angel Child Monitoring Platform from the Startup SafeInCity was born. The solution platform which was a brainchild of its founder Krishnendu Dasgupta was developed after extensive consultations with parents, teachers and school authorities.
With over 20 years of International Telecom experience working with leading IT companies across 5 continents including companies like Cisco Systems, the Collaborative Child Monitoring Platform aims to bridge key requirements of Child Safety in a School friendly manner!
With the Angel Monitoring Platform, the Parents can have real-time information about the child’s location and environment through a clever little wearable device. Depending on the age of the child, the devices are available in various models, shapes and sizes . Information like the location, entry, exit from any safe-zone, their speed etc can be seen in real-time live through the SafeInCity APP.
However the most loved feature of the whole solution is the Audio monitoring, where parents can Dial-Into the device without disturbing either the child or the classroom to ensure that the child is in a safe environment.
“It’s a Win Win solution. I am totally at peace knowing about my child at every moment even at office without disturbing my child or her classroom” says Deepti, a Parent at Deens Academy, Bangalore.
One of the biggest benefits of this solution is the Deterrence Factor – Unlike CCTV which have fixed locations, the Angel devices are moving around with the kids wearing them. The sheer un-predictability of the kid’s movement makes is virtually impossible to beat thereby deterring any potential anti-social behavior.
The brains behind the solution is a Cloud based IoT (Internet of things) architecture, providing live location + situational information to the parents. The cloud hosted application interacts with the lightweight IoT sensor which is carried by the child. Parents have the option to create unlimited Safe-Zones ( eg School, Tennis Class, Tuition Class, Swimming class etc) and receive automated notification on entry and exit to each of the created Safe-Zones.
“This is just awesome, I get automatic alerts when my daughter leaves school and reaches home. This helps me focus on my work knowing that she has reached home safely.” Says Debjani, mother of a 6 year old studying at DPS.
The live location and unlimited Safe-Zones can be created from any smart-phones or computer. Futher, the SafeInCity APP, allows live location updates and history for up to 2 months in the past.
“We are extremely pleased to hear how re-assured parents are feeling knowing about their children while at School. This has given us the confidence to focus on holistic education for every child in the safest environment possible” Says Dr.Kamala, a veteran Educationist.
SafeInCity is now working with many more schools across Bangalore to introduce their Angel Platform as a next-generation Child Safety solution. Word-of-mouth has already taken them to Mumbai and Delhi where anxious parents are buying the products for the safety of their children.
In addition to the Child Safety Solutions, SafeInCity is about to launch their Employee Safety Solutions and are in advanced level discussions with several Corporates.
As children of each age group have a very different requirements, SafeInCity has now introduced a range of products in attractive colors suiting each age group. Their latest products even allow two way communications outside the school. Over the next few months, we plan to have far more intelligence in the platform so it can automatically notify the parents and help avoid any potential abuse like situations.
Exciting developments are taking place in the world of wearables and we plan to introduce advanced Child-Safe wearable as part of our Product Evolution strategy.
Krish hopes that there would be many more such ideas that come forward to address and eradicate this social menace from our society so every kid can grow up in a safe environment that they absolutely deserve!
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