Every school ERP comes with a parent portal or app. Most have abysmal adoption rates. The reason is simple: they show what the school wants parents to see, not what parents want to see.
What Parents Actually Care About
Based on usage data from thousands of parent accounts across Indian schools:
Top 5 Most Accessed Features: 1. Fee balance and payment (60% of all logins) 2. Attendance — "Was my child marked present today?" (20%) 3. Exam results and report cards (seasonal spikes) 4. Daily homework and assignments (for primary school parents) 5. Bus tracking (for transport users)
Rarely Used Features: - School calendar (parents prefer WhatsApp reminders) - Circulars (too many, too generic) - Teacher profiles (looked at once, never again) - Photo galleries (nice to have, not a driver of usage)
Design Principles for High Adoption
1. Dashboard First Show the 3-4 most important things on the first screen: fee status, today's attendance, upcoming exams, and unread notifications. No menu hunting.
2. Payment Integration The most common parent action is paying fees. Make it 2 taps from app open to payment complete. Support UPI, credit card, and net banking.
3. Push Notifications That Matter Only send notifications parents care about: attendance marked, fee due, exam results published. NOT: "School will remain open on Saturday" (use WhatsApp for general circulars).
4. Offline Access Many parents access the app in areas with poor connectivity. Core features (student profile, fee history, report cards) should work offline.
5. Multilingual Support India's parents speak 22+ languages. At minimum, support English, Hindi, and the state language. EduBold supports 8 regional languages.
The Business Case
Schools with high parent portal adoption see: - 40% faster fee collection (parents pay through the app) - 60% fewer phone calls to the office (parents check the app instead) - Higher parent satisfaction scores - Better admission conversion (prospective parents see a modern school)
The parent portal is often the first piece of technology a parent associates with your school. Make it useful, fast, and simple.
