Chandigarh, Sept. 4 -- Students skipping classes in Chandigarh government schools will no longer be able to keep it a secret from their parents. An automated SMS is now being sent to parents as soon as children are marked absent by teachers, bringing a private-school-style attendance alert system to the UT's government schools.

The attendance-SMS mechanism under the School Management Information System (SMIS) was rolled out on July 7 across the UT's 111 government schools. Teachers and principals said the move had made students more conscious about skipping classes.

Nitish Singla, director, School Education, Chandigarh, said, "The system will bring accountability. More importantly, it will increase parental involvement in the education ...