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St. Peter’s Naalya (SPENA), is excited to announce the launch of the SPENA Smart Card. This innovative solution combines traditional school identification with cutting-edge financial and management functionalities.
Powered by Kawu, this smart card is designed to enhance security, streamline school operations, and foster financial literacy among students. The smart card will be issued to all students free of charge, ensuring inclusivity for everyone.
Why the SPENA Smart Card?
As our school continues to grow and embrace modern solutions, it has become essential to provide tools that meet the challenges of today’s dynamic educational environment. The SPENA Smart Card addresses key challenges, including:
- Convenience: We are always innovating to make it easy for our parents to interact and keep in touch with their children, the smart card comes with an Android App, an IOS App and a USSD (*284*28#), which enables parents to easily:
i. Send Upkeep to their children without going through insecure channels.
ii. Receive notifications when their children leave and enter school or are admitted to the sick bay.
iii. Manage and support their children in their financial journey.
- Cash Security: This card comes with a 5-digit PIN Code, the learner’s photo, and a safety QR Code ensuring only the owner can use it thereby reducing the risk of theft and loss of the learner’s upkeep. Since this card also facilitates cashless transactions, there will be no need for our learners to carry cash with them.
- Accountability: Since all payments at the canteen will be cashless, our learners and parents will now be able to view how they spend their money while at school. This card will also be used at the sickbay, gate, and library bringing both transparency and accountability to all the services our learners access at school.
- Financial Literacy: At SPENA, we recognize how important it is to empower our students with more than just classroom knowledge. This card allows our students to access financial literacy, such as the importance of saving, budgeting, and more. It will greatly help students develop responsible money management skills during their time at school.
- Parental Oversight: Coupled with an app, USSD (*284*284#), the SPENA Smart Card will enable our beloved parents to stay in touch and view of their children’s expenditures, gate and sickbay access. We believe this will help parents to guide their children financially where they see fit even when the children are at school.
Benefits of the SPENA Smart Card
For Students:
- Convenient Access: Our learner will easily access all school facilities, including the gate, library, sick bay, and canteen, with a single smart card.
- Cashless Payments: Students can make secure, easy, and fast payments using the card at the canteen and other school-approved points saving them time and the challenge of looking for balance at the canteen and other points of service in school.
- Safe Savings: This card comes with an option for our learners to save part of the money you give them, meaning students will be incentivized to learn good financial habits while still in school, when students choose to save, this money will be safely locked on their card and will only be accessed by them at the end of term.
- Identity Verification: This card has been designed to be the primary tool for identification in school, with the digital touch it comes with, this means simplified and secure identification within the school environment.
For Parents:
- Real-Time Monitoring: Parents can view their children’s spending, history of transactions, and balance via the Kawu mobile app or USSD, this will be optional therefore if you as a parent are not interested, you can always opt out.
From the Kawu App, the primary parent can also add other parents (up to 3 parents) to support in managing the student. - Ease of Fund Transfer: Our parents will now be able to easily load money for their children from anywhere in the world, whether in Uganda or abroad. Funds can be sent directly to the smart card using MTN Mobile Money, Airtel Money, or a debit/credit card.
- Budget Control: To encourage responsible spending, parents can now set limits on daily, weekly, or monthly spending, this will enable parents to instill good financial behaviors like budgeting and planning among their children even while at school.
For the School:
- Driving Innovation: As always, SPENA is a first-class school, and we always strive to introduce cutting-edge technology to encourage and practice what we teach to our learners. This new SPENA smart card aligns perfectly with our drive for innovation and use of technology.
- Enhanced Security: We are always working hard to ensure a safe learning and equal environment for our learners, reducing reliance on cash is one way of bringing this to life, this card will also be used to access all other school facilities meaning we will have a safe environment for our learners.
- Operational Efficiency: Easy, fast, and streamlined processes for canteen payments, attendance, fee collection, and facility access mean we will save time and effort for both the student and our staff while giving the best service to our learners.
- Financial Inclusion: SPENA is well aligned with the Global SDGs to drive financial Inclusion, especially for young people. Providing students with access to secure, digital financial services regardless of their background is key in fostering financial Inclusion and we believe this will greatly help our learners.
How It Works
- Issuance: On reporting day, each student will be issued a SPENA Smart Card by the school. The card will feature the student’s photo, name, a unique identification number, and a secure QR Code.
- Loading Funds: Parent can load money to the card directly from their mobile money account (MTN or Airtel) or use their debit/credit cards by using the Kawu mobile app (available for Android and IOS) or by dialing *284*28#.If you log in to the App or USSD with the number you registered with the school, you’ll be able to see your child’s photo and full name, simply tap on it, enter the amount, select your preferred way of loading the card then follow prompts.
You can also load the card with any other number, dial the USSD Code *284*28#, or log in to the Kawu App, Select an option to send pocket money and then enter your child’s student number.
Alternatively: You can load money on your child’s card from any PayWay or Quickteller Agents whichever is near to you.
Simply visit the agent, and give them your child’s student number and your phone number. They will be able to load the money for you and give you a receipt, you will also receive a confirmation message.
NOTES:
- While entering the student number only enter the numeric digits for example if the student number is SPENA/12001 only enter 12001. Ensure it brings the full names of the students before proceeding.
- Charges apply while loading money from mobile money and agents.
- Usage:
- Cashless Payments:
A student will tap their card at any of the self-service points in school.
They’ll enter their PIN to authenticate before they can do anything.
After they have entered the correct pin, they’ll be directed to a screen to buy canteen vouchers.
The student will select the number of coupons they want i.e. they can buy 1, 2, or 3 coupons at ounce.
The student will then enter the amount they want to spend for each coupon and confirm.
After confirmation, the coupon will automatically be sent to the canteen. This entire process should take a maximum of 30 seconds.The entire process above can be done by the student at any time of their convenience and their coupon will stay valid for 24 hours after which if not used the money will be refunded back to their card.
After the above, the student will proceed to the canteen.At the canteen, they will just tap their card and ask for whatever they want, the canteen attendant will be able to serve them swiftly.
The entire canteen process should take less than 10 seconds.
- Access Control:
The student will tap their card on designated points at the Gate, Library, and Sickbay.
The person in charge aided by the smart card will validate whatever access the student wants and will grant or deny it. - Savings:
From the self-service points, students will be able to set savings goals, make savings, and also view their savings balance. To make savings, the student will tap their card, enter their PIN to authenticate, then go to Savings and follow prompts.
NOTES:
1. The savings option will only be available in the evening during weekdays and will be fully available on weekends.
2. Once a student transfers their money to savings, this money will be locked there until the end of the term.
3. Students will not be allowed to save more than 40% of the money they have on their cards at any time.
- Cashless Payments:
- Notifications:
Parents receive real-time notifications for all transactions made with the card, this will by default be on but you can choose to opt out using the Kawu App. Parents will also receive notifications when money on their children’s card is running low, a pin has been changed or any other important activity has taken place on their children’s card. - Support:
Support will be available for our students to learn using this card at school.In case the parent finds any problem using the App, USSD, or at any agents with the card, they can reach out directly to Kawu on WhatsApp/Call 0200910501 or 0394010501 or write an email to info@kawu.ug
Key Information
- Initial Issuance: The smart card will be provided FREE OF CHARGE to all students.
- Replacement Policy: In case of loss, a replacement fee of UGX 30,000 will apply.
- Parental Oversight: Parents can monitor spending and control transaction limits via the Kawu App or USSD.
- Secure Transactions: The card is protected by a unique PIN, student’s name, student’s photo, and integrated with the parent’s contact for enhanced security.
The SPENA Smart Card represents a bold step forward in improving the school experience for students, parents, and staff. By combining traditional identification with modern financial tools, this solution reflects SPENA’s commitment to innovation, security, and excellence.