Bromcom Computers Ltd has developed a computer system that it hopes will prevent the lion’s share of truancy cases in British schools, where the problem is giving rise to growing concern. The Bromley, Kent-based company, now an educational specialist systems house, claims to have secured the commitment of 15 Inner London Education Authorities to the Electronic Attendance Registration System – EARS for short – with one promising to spend UKP24,000 on it in the first year. The system works using a UKP300 half-inch thick handheld computer – designed by Bromcom with manufacturing subcontracted to three UK companies – which is held in a folder like a traditional classroom register. The computer is linked by radio to a transceiver on the wall, linked in turn by cabling to an MS-DOS central personal computer in the school office. The personal computer downloads class lists to the register which is then used to upload attendance details taken in class. The personal computer can then be programmed to write a stiff letter to the parents of children found to be absent. Using the system, it will be possible to check the attendance at each class, rather than just at pastoral sessions at the beginning of the school day, to avoid post-registration truancy. By the end of the year, other applications, including electronic mail, a panic button to alert central office to trouble at the chalkface, and a word processor will be introduced into the system, and in the future the link between the handheld and the central computer will be extended so that teachers can take the machine home.
