Transferring a student, issuing the leaving certificate and school certificate, with a trace of every step

When a student changes school, two documents travel: the leaving certificate (exeat), which records the departure, and the school attendance certificate, which proves enrolment. Too often they are typed on request and nobody can find the number. With Sahel EDU, student transfer software, the leaving certificate is numbered and entered in a register, a transfer between schools of one network goes through a request, and documents can be checked by QR Code where the school is authorised.

Leaving certificate, transfer, school certificate: what each document says

These three notions are often mixed up. Telling them apart avoids issuing one paper in place of another.

A leaving certificate (exeat) records the departure: the school of origin states that the student leaves on a given date. The transfer is the movement itself, from the school of origin to the receiving school. The school attendance certificate proves that the child is enrolled at the school for the year.

• The exeat carries the student’s name, file details, the departure date and the receiving school.
• It is signed and stamped by the school of origin.
• The school certificate serves the family’s procedures with outside bodies, for example a scholarship file.
• The enrolment certificate and the end-of-year certificate are neighbouring documents, issued the same way.

Issuing the exeat: number, register and duplicate

The school office or the management issues the exeat from the student’s file. The PDF comes out in the school’s languages, with the letterhead, the student’s details, the signature, the stamp and a QR Code for checking.

Each exeat receives a running number for the year, and a register lets you look them all up. If the family loses its copy, the duplicate keeps the same number: there are never two different exeats for one departure.

• The departure date and the receiving school are recorded.
• The register can be consulted at any time, without retyping old documents.
• The balance due that day is shown for information: it is never used to refuse the exeat.
• The duplicate keeps the original number.

Transfers within one school network: the school of origin decides

When both schools belong to the same network, the student is not retyped. The receiving school enters the network student number and date of birth, gives the reason, then clicks “Request the transfer”. The school of origin answers.

If it accepts, the departure is dated, the exeat is issued by itself, the student’s history is opened to the receiving school and the guardian is carried over. If it refuses, the request stops. With no reply, the request is confirmed by itself after fifteen days.

Read also: Software for a Network of Schools: Multi-School

• The student keeps the same network student number in the new school.
• The parents’ access is carried over.
• The history is opened only with the consent of the school of origin, never otherwise.
• The civil record stays closed while the answer is awaited.
• For a school outside the network, the exeat handed to the family serves as the exit document.

The school certificate and its QR Code check

The school certificate comes out as a PDF, with the school’s name, logo and colour. For a school in Cameroon, the letterhead of the Republic and of the supervising ministry is used, and the signatory is the school’s own: the Principal or the Head.

A QR Code lets whoever receives the document check it on a readable page, without an account: authentic, replaced, withdrawn, revoked or not found. This QR Code is only present if the school has an issuing key and a verified opening authorisation; otherwise the document comes out without a QR Code and says so.

Read also: School documents verifiable by QR Code — Sahel Shield

• Checking needs neither an account nor an app.
• A replaced or withdrawn document shows as such.
• Documents are written in the languages chosen by the school.
• A certificate is traced: you can tell who issued it and when.

Limits of transfers, and where to start

The software traces and secures the documents, but the decision stays human. To get started, make sure each student’s file is complete, then issue a first exeat from the student’s record and look at the register.

A transfer by request only works between schools of the same network.

• A transfer to a school outside the network goes through the exeat handed to the family, with no request sent.
• The balance due is information: whether to withhold a document is the management’s decision.
• The QR Code depends on the school’s opening authorisation.
• A change of class inside the same school is made with a reason, without an exeat.

Frequently asked questions

What is an exeat?

It is a student’s leaving certificate. It records that the school of origin lets the student leave on a given date for a receiving school.

Can an exeat be refused because fees are unpaid?

The software shows the balance due for information, but this balance is never used to refuse the exeat.

What if the family loses its exeat?

The school office issues a duplicate that keeps the same number, found in the register.

Do we retype a student who moves within the same network?

No. The receiving school enters the network student number and date of birth, then requests the transfer; the school of origin decides.

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.

See also

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