Sahel EDU

Running a private school like a business: fees, cash desk, payroll and relations with families

A private lay school lives on its tuition fees and pays its salaries with them: teaching and finance cannot be separated. Sahel EDU, software for private schools, follows fee collection, the cash desk, expenses and payroll alongside marks and the register, gives the school a public website, and lets the proprietor follow the school without being on site.

A private school is a school and a business

In Cameroon, private education has four branches (Catholic, Protestant, Islamic and lay), governed by the law of 22 July 2004. Syllabuses and diplomas are the State’s, and the reporting duties are the same as in public schools: actual enrolment, statistical summaries each term, council reports.

Income comes from tuition fees and costs come from salaries. The same difficulties come back from one school to the next:

Unpaid fees that pile up without anyone knowing exactly who owes what.
A cash desk kept in a notebook, with no trace of corrections.
Hourly salaries that are hard to calculate.
Families to win over and reassure, before and after enrolment.
A proprietor far from the field, who wants to see without disturbing.

Following fees and reducing unpaid balances

Fees are followed item by item (admission file, enrolment, PTA, exam, tuition, uniform…), with a payment schedule. Each payment is split across the items, the balance can be read per student and per class, and the list of unpaid fees can be exported. Families can also declare a deposit, bank or mobile, with a photo of the slip: the bursar matches it with the imported statement, and it becomes a payment with a receipt.

By default, an amount that is due and unpaid withholds the handing over of the paper report card and its download. The rule never touches marks, averages and ranks, nor enrolment, nor the documents for an official exam; the head can switch it off. The family is told in its online space.

Numbered receipts as PDFs, in three languages, with the amount in words.
Deposits declared by families and matched with the statement.
Fees position shareable by a WhatsApp link valid for seven days.
A “no cash” option for schools that take no cash at the desk.

The cash desk, expenses and payroll

The daily cash desk opens with a float and closes with the gap frozen. A cancelled expense is cancelled with a reason and is never erased. Separate cash desks, for the parents’ association or for exams for example, avoid mixing sums.

For payroll, each person has a rate, hourly or monthly. The hours of hourly teachers are calculated from the timetable checked against clock-ins, and the payslip comes out as a PDF. Accounting offers a SYSCOHADA chart of accounts to validate, a journal, a general ledger and a file of entries in CSV or Excel. Contribution rates are for the school to have validated, and payroll declarations are prepared documents, not online filings.

Cash desk opened with a float, closed with the gap frozen.
Expenses cancelled with a reason, never erased.
Purchase orders with double validation.
Payslip as a PDF and a “My pay” page for each employee.

Discounts, scholarships and the school’s image

Discounts (siblings, staff children…) are granted by the head with a stated reason, frozen on the day of the agreement and revocable without ever being erased. Scholarship programmes, families’ applications and a register of donations complete the picture.

Each school has its public website in three languages: presentation, team, courses, news, gallery, contact and, if the head opens it, an enrolment request. The site has its own address, a sitemap and its own titles for search engines. Students’ distinctions are shown in public only with the family’s consent, and a discreet mode removes the address, map and photos for areas at risk.

Discount granted with a reason, never erased.
Merit scholarship based on published results.
Public website in French, English and Arabic.
Sahel EDU seal that the head can choose to display.

Steering the school, even from a distance

The head’s dashboard shows enrolment, attendance, marks, fee collection and the points to deal with. The proprietor has a read-only role: they consult without changing anything. Staff clock-in by QR Code and the gaps against the timetable say whether lessons really take place.

The head, the deputy head and the accountant sign in with compulsory two-step authentication, in a session limited to eight hours. Each school’s data is partitioned, sensitive documents are encrypted, backups are made every hour; this data belongs to the school, which can export it.

Dashboard: enrolment, attendance, marks, fee collection.
Proprietor role, read-only.
A lesson that started without a clocked-in teacher is flagged live.
Export of the school’s data.

Limits to know about

Sahel EDU triggers no online payment: it records the method used (cash, mobile, transfer, cheque) and the deposits declared. It does not replace a chartered accountant: the chart of accounts is offered for validation. A membership request requires the school’s opening authorisation, because the certificates are signed and can be verified by anyone.

Most screens need a connection: only the register, marks entry and a few forms are kept when the network drops. To get started, the SAHEL AVENIR SARL team can take over your lists (students, staff, classes, fees) under the turnkey digitalisation service, a separate paid service billed once.

No online payment is triggered.
Chart of accounts offered, to be validated by the school.
A connection is needed for most screens.

Frequently asked questions

Can a parent pay online with Sahel EDU?

No. 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.

Is the report card blocked if fees are unpaid?

By default, an amount that is due and unpaid withholds the handing over of the report card, never the marks, the enrolment or the documents for an official exam. The head can switch this rule off.

Can the proprietor follow the school without being on site?

Yes, with a read-only role: they consult the dashboard, fee collection and enrolment from their phone, without changing anything.

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.

Book a private demonstration See pricing How the trial works