This app lets busy parents know what’s going on in their child’s classroom

Helping kids reach their potential in school isn’t solely the role of teachers. It’s a partnership with parents or carers at home. So parents need to be aware of what goes on in the classroom. Yet there’s an obvious communication gap: so-called PTA meetings are few and far between. There are ways to get involved, but it seems almost impossible for some parents caught up between work and chores.

Enter mobile apps like MyChild. MyChild keeps parents in the loop about their children’s performance in school as well as their activities.

“It’s a portal for busy parents,” says its founder and CEO Alan Gosiengfiao.

Parents can view their child’s grades, and keep track of homework and projects pending or submitted on the app. They can also check the schedule of their child’s school activities on a calendar.

The best thing about the app is it allows teachers and parents to chat. This is helpful in instances where teachers want to focus on a particular issue, such as attendance, or parents want to clarify instructions for a homework or a project.

This means parents are able to review information on their child at the touch of a button.

“MyChild lets parents know what’s happening to their kids in school so they can better oversee their development,” notes Gosiengfiao.

Inspiration for the app

MyChild is among 10 winners of the 2014 startup competition held by Philippine incubator Ideaspace Foundation.

Out of a list of ideas they had for the competition, Gosiengfiao shares he and his co-founders Pablo Yambot and Michael Teo decided to go with MyChild because it was “the closest to their hearts.”

Gosiengfiao and Yambot were once very busy parents, having worked at multinational consumer goods company P&G. They experienced first-hand how hard it is to manage time between their jobs and family life. Gosiengfiao is a father of five, while Yambot has one child.

However, Gosiengfiao says this wasn’t the only motivation for creating the app. It was also the one idea that had clear revenue potential.

Since its launch in March 2014, MyChild has registered 421 active parent-users. The startup charges the schools a yearly rate of US$24 per student, and the schools pass this on to the parents. MyChild aims to have around 10,000 users by the end of 2015.