Sahel EDU

Running a nursery school: records, pick-ups, fees and the competency booklet in one place

A nursery school is not run like a secondary school: few marks to compare, but four- and five-year-olds to welcome, parents to talk to every day, pick-ups to secure and fees to follow. Sahel EDU, software for nursery schools, brings records, the register, the people allowed to collect each child, fees and the competency booklet into one tool.

What really matters in a nursery school

In Cameroon, official nursery school lasts two years and takes in children aged 4 and 5: Nursery One and Nursery Two in the anglophone subsystem, a lower and an upper section in the francophone one. In practice, many schools add one or two sections for the youngest children. The joint order setting the 2026-2027 school calendar limits a nursery class to 30 children.

There is no exam at the end of nursery school, and no average to compute. What weighs on the day-to-day is of another kind:

Complete records, with each child’s birth certificate, photo and health sheet.
Safe pick-ups: knowing who may collect the child, and checking it at the gate.
Parents who are kept informed, including those who read little.
Fees followed with families who often pay in instalments.
Observations of the child’s development rather than averages.

Enrolling children and keeping their records

Admission is done at the front desk, with a step-by-step assistant. Each document, a birth certificate for example, is photographed with the phone or added as a PDF, stored encrypted and given a status, so you can see at a glance what is still missing. The child’s age is checked against the class requested, a namesake already known to the network is flagged, and the student number is issued by the software, never typed by hand.

An enrolment request from the school’s website exists, but it stays closed until the head opens it. For schools that already keep their lists in Excel, the guided import shows a line-by-line preview without writing anything, then flags duplicates.

Quick photo taken live from the phone, cropped and never kept on the device.
Health sheet and sick bay: encrypted data, logged access, completed by the family itself.
One account for all the children of a family.
Student card in bank-card format, with a verifiable QR Code once the school’s opening authorisation has been verified.

At pick-up time: who may collect the child?

At pick-up time, the question is not a mark but the identity of the adult at the gate. In Sahel EDU, the family declares the people allowed to collect the child, the school validates the declaration, and the list for the day can be consulted at the gate. It is a register kept by the school: there is no facial recognition and no vehicle tracking.

The class register is taken session by session, on the teacher’s phone. When the network drops, the entry is kept on the device and sent by itself when the connection returns. A correction stays possible during a period the school sets; after that, it goes through the student-life office.

Declaration by the family, validation by the school.
List for the day, to consult at the gate.
Parents’ consents recorded, withdrawable at any time, with their own register.
Optional services (canteen, transport, boarding) chosen child by child.

A competency booklet rather than a report card of marks

For nursery and primary schools, Sahel EDU offers a competency booklet. For each competency observed, the teacher records a level (NA, ECA or A), a mark if the school gives one, and a remark. The nursery level keeps its own framework, separate from the primary one.

One limit to know about: the text of the competencies for each level does not come with the application. The head enters the target competencies, subject by subject, according to the school’s own syllabus. The booklet comes out as a PDF in French, English or Arabic, for one child or for the whole class, with no rank and no average.

Three levels: NA (not acquired), ECA (being acquired) and A (acquired), with “A+” as an option.
A mark and a remark for each competency.
A “not observed” entry when the competency has not been seen yet.
A Sahel Shield QR Code on the booklet once the school’s opening authorisation has been verified.

Fees and parents: follow-up without queues

Fees are followed item by item (admission file, enrolment, tuition, uniform…), with a payment schedule, numbered receipts and the list of unpaid fees. Families pay at the cash desk or by bank or mobile deposit; the school records the payment, and the family sees its receipt and balance in its own space. Sahel EDU triggers no online payment.

The school’s messages are delivered in the family’s online space, which holds one account for all its children. The fees position can also be shared by a WhatsApp link valid for seven days, with no account to create: the relative who pays sees what is due, what is paid and what remains, but no marks and no absences.

Numbered receipts as PDFs, in three languages, with the amount in words.
Payment schedule and balance per student and per class.
A discount for brothers and sisters, granted by the head with a stated reason.
School messages delivered in the parents’ space.

Limits, and where to start

Sahel EDU runs in the phone’s browser; it can be added to the home screen, but it is not an app from the app stores. Most screens need a connection: only the register and a few entries are kept when the network drops. A child’s results are visible to the family only after the head has published them.

To get started, open the school year and the classes, import your lists of children from Excel, set your fee items, enter the target competencies, then agree with each family on the people allowed to collect the children.

Import the lists of children and parents.
Set the fee items and the payment schedule.
Enter the target competencies for each subject.

Sources

Joint order of 14 August 2026 setting the 2026-2027 school calendar (MINEDUB and MINESEC)

Frequently asked questions

Does a nursery school need management software?

Yes, even without exam marks: records, the register, pick-ups, the competency booklet and fees all need follow-up. Sahel EDU brings them together in one tool that works on a phone.

How do we know who may collect a child?

The family declares the authorised people, the school validates them, and the list for the day can be consulted at the gate. It is a register, with no facial recognition.

Do parents need a recent smartphone?

No. An entry-level Android phone with a browser is enough: the pages are light and adapt to slow connections.

Can Sahel EDU be used outside Cameroon?

Sahel EDU is today designed, validated and usable for schools in Cameroon. In another Central African country, the application already reads in French, English and Arabic and counts in CFA francs, but the country’s official levels, exams, calendars and report cards are set up with our team, school by school, before opening.

Can we try it before committing?

Yes. The free trial lasts 30 days, with no commitment. The price is then negotiated with each school and can be read on the Pricing page.

Try Sahel EDU for free

Try Sahel EDU free for 30 days, no commitment. Afterwards, the price is negotiated with your school and confirmed in writing.

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