The 25-student rule
Each BRAC school needs at least 25 enrolled students to receive donor funding. Some teachers met it by enrolling the same child at more than one school.
Case study · Education
BRAC Education Program runs schools for children who are often left out of education, in places with little power or internet. Tipsoi's portable face devices now verify enrollment and daily attendance for 40,000+ students.
Partner with usFigures from BRAC Education Program, April 2026
The partner
BRAC's schools reach girls, children with disabilities and children from ethnic minority groups, and they bring dropouts back into learning.
14.7 million+ children have graduated from BRAC pre-primary and primary schools.
Many of these schools sit in remote villages with no grid power, no Wi-Fi and poor roads.
The challenge
Each BRAC school needs at least 25 enrolled students to receive donor funding. Some teachers met it by enrolling the same child at more than one school.
Paper enrollment could not confirm who a child was, so duplicates stayed invisible to head office and to donors.
School attendance averaged about 70%, and nothing showed head office which schools were slipping.
What we built
Teachers charge it at home, bring it to school each morning and take it back at the end of the day.
Attendance reaches the central platform over the mobile network. No Wi-Fi or broadband needed.
Students check in by face. Children enjoy seeing themselves recognised, and a face cannot be faked like a signature.
The central check
A new student's face photo goes to the central system.
It is compared with every enrolled student across all BRAC schools.
A match or near match is held for review, so a duplicate never reaches the register.
Five levels see the data they are responsible for: head office, divisional offices, district and upazila managers, program organizers and teachers.
What BEP reports
Daily attendance in BRAC schools
fewer dropouts than the pre-rollout baseline
duplicate enrollments, stopped at registration
BRAC Education Program reported these results in April 2026. They are the program's own figures, and an independent evaluation is still to come.
Before and after
Before
Paper registers, no oversight
One child on several registers
No early warning
Headcounts nobody could audit
After
Face check-in, seen centrally the same day
Every new face checked against all students
Irregular attendance spotted early by program organizers
Verified, auditable student counts
Beyond BRAC
BRAC has presented the system at government education events to District and Upazila Education Officers, Deputy Commissioners and Upazila Nirbahi Officers.
Officials said they want to explore a similar setup for government primary schools.
