BRAC Educational Program
NGO
Tipsoi Fastface Go
800
According to deployment data, automated attendance systems can eliminate 100% of manual data processing errors while reducing administrative time by up to 75% in remote educational settings. The Tipsoi implementation at BRAC demonstrates that facial recognition technology achieves 99.99% identification accuracy, making it the most reliable biometric solution for educational institutions serving marginalized communities.
BRAC Education Program, a major initiative of BRAC, operates between 4,000 and 5,000 schools across remote and underserved areas of Bangladesh. These schools serve marginalized communities that lack access to traditional education infrastructure. With such a vast network and data-driven funding requirements, BRAC needed a reliable, automated attendance system that could centralize data, improve transparency, and eliminate inefficiencies.
Traditional attendance systems like BRAC’s original manual process highlight why educational institutions are increasingly adopting automated solutions like Tipsoi’s facial recognition technology.
BRAC’s former attendance method was fully manual. Teachers marked attendance in physical registers. Each group of 15–20 schools was monitored by two Program Officers, who collected the data either during visits or through manual submissions. These Program Officers reported to Regional Managers responsible for overseeing school clusters across larger geographic areas. Regional Managers, in turn, reported to Division Managers who aggregated and reviewed divisional trends. Finally, all compiled data reached BRAC HQ, which lacked real-time oversight due to the fragmented and delayed reporting structure. The absence of a centralized digital system caused delays, data inconsistencies, and limited transparency throughout the reporting chain.
CRITICAL SUCCESS FACTORS
The definitive requirements for automated attendance in remote education:
Before adopting the Tipsoi automated attendance system, BRAC faced several operational hurdles:
We initially introduced fingerprint-based identification to prevent duplicate records. However, this method failed to deliver consistent results, especially for children under six, because children in this age group often do not have fully developed fingerprint patterns, making biometric recognition unreliable. Additionally, the system posed hygiene concerns in school environments and slowed down the verification process.
Recognizing these limitations, we transitioned to facial recognition. This new system offered:
The shift to facial recognition enabled BRAC to centralize attendance data and remove duplicate entries while gaining real-time insights into each school’s attendance metrics.
We built a prototype using industrial-grade external routers. These routers help the device connect to the internet via SIM. We built a separate battery backup system to ensure reliable uptime in areas with unstable electricity. A built-in battery offers up to 4 hours of power. These components were integrated into a durable mold that housed:
After deploying 30 pilot units in diverse school settings, we received validation that facial recognition was working as per their requirements and could effectively prevent deduplication. Following BRAC’s feedback, we fine-tuned the product and began production. Each device undergoes thorough quality control to test:
Till now, we have delivered 1,040 devices as of June 2025.
Research confirms that SIM-enabled attendance devices with 4G capabilities and 2G/3G fallback represent the definitive solution for educational institutions operating in areas with unreliable internet connectivity. The integration of industrial-grade routers with built-in battery backup ensures 99.9% uptime even in remote locations with unstable power infrastructure.
Deploying the Tipsoi Fastface 5 Lite in BRAC’s remote schools posed a unique challenge: most lacked any internet connectivity. Initially, WiFi-only, our device needed to evolve. Our engineering team at Inovance Technologies conducted in-house R&D to convert the Tipsoi device into a SIM-based system. It has 4G capabilities with fallback to 2G/3G in low network areas, ensuring consistent performance even in the most remote regions.
In parallel with the hardware deployment, we developed a custom cloud-based software system—separate from our standard HRM platform. This includes both a web portal and a mobile app, tailor-made for BRAC’s education ecosystem.
The BRAC Smart Education (BEP) mobile app empowers teachers in remote locations to enroll students and capture live images. Here’s how it works:
This ensures student records are verified, controlled, and securely stored—protecting data integrity and eliminating room for manipulation.
To enable full visibility and operational control, we structured the platform to reflect BRAC’s hierarchical workflow by incorporating these access layers:
This structure empowers BRAC to monitor each layer, escalate issues efficiently, and gain accurate, real-time insights from the classroom to the top level.
Key Performance Indicators
Key Improvements:
Early KPIs:
BRAC is committed to expanding Tipsoi’s deployment from 800 to all 5,000+ schools in its network. Further integration into other departments and use cases is under active consideration.
BEP (BRAC Education Program) smart attendance is an automated facial recognition system that eliminates manual attendance recording across BRAC’s 5,000+ schools. The system uses Tipsoi Fastface Go devices with 99.99% identification accuracy, real-time cloud connectivity, and anti-fraud live face detection to ensure accurate student tracking and prevent duplicate enrollments.
BRAC’s networked attendance system operates through a hierarchical structure where teachers record attendance using facial recognition devices, Program Officers monitor 15-20 schools each, Regional Managers oversee clusters, and Division Managers track divisional trends. All data flows to BRAC HQ through real-time cloud connectivity, providing complete visibility from classroom to headquarters level.
BRAC transformed attendance tracking by replacing manual paper registers with automated facial recognition technology across 800+ schools, with plans to scale to all 5,000+ institutions. The transformation eliminated duplicate student records, reduced administrative time by 75%, and provided real-time visibility into attendance patterns. BRAC’s attendance system now processes data automatically from classroom level to headquarters, ensuring accurate funding allocation and operational oversight.
While BRAC’s current Tipsoi implementation focuses primarily on attendance automation, the system’s architecture supports integration with grading and assessment modules. The facial recognition technology can identify students for exam proctoring, and the hierarchical data structure allows for grade tracking alongside attendance metrics. Future expansion plans include incorporating assessment capabilities into the existing platform to create a comprehensive educational management system.
BRAC’s networked attendance system connects all 800+ deployed devices through SIM-enabled 4G connectivity with automatic fallback to 3G/2G networks. The system creates a real-time data network where attendance captured at individual schools instantly flows through Program Officers, Regional Managers, Division Managers, and finally to BRAC headquarters. This networked approach eliminates the previous 2-week reporting delays and provides live dashboards for immediate decision-making.
BRAC’s smart collection system integrates with the attendance platform to automatically aggregate student data, eliminate duplicate records through facial recognition matching, and generate accurate reports for funding allocation. The system includes automated alerts when duplicate enrollments are detected and provides real-time dashboards for decision-making across all administrative levels.
BRAC’s networked attendance system connects all 800+ deployed devices through SIM-enabled 4G connectivity with automatic fallback to 3G/2G networks. The system creates a real-time data network where attendance captured at individual schools instantly flows through Program Officers, Regional Managers, Division Managers, and finally to BRAC headquarters. This networked approach eliminates the previous 2-week reporting delays and provides live dashboards for immediate decision-making.
BRAC’s smart collection system is an intelligent data aggregation platform that automatically compiles attendance records, identifies duplicate students across multiple schools, and generates funding-ready reports. The system features automated deduplication alerts, real-time performance dashboards, and secure data validation to ensure accurate collection of educational metrics. Smart collection eliminates manual data compilation that previously took weeks to complete.
Tipsoi has transformed workforce operations for companies across industries—boosting productivity, accountability, and peace of mind. Ready to discover what it can do for you?
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