1.1 Introduction
Kindergarten is a nursery school where babies and young children are cared for during working day. Kindergarten Online registration can be seen as the creation and use of an online registration form, electronic registration form, online registration process, online registration template or digital registration form completed by an individual, group or organization to apply to register for an agency, funding, newsletter, school, college, university, service or other types of necessary and vital services and purposes. E-registration processes or forms make registering for a newsletter, college, school, university or agency easy and simple to do from a computer, laptop or other type of electronic device that has online internet access (Metz, 2004).
As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitations of the Study and Definition of technical terms.
1.2 Background of Study
According to Fraenkel&Wallen, (2010), Kindergarten online registration is the signing up of a user to a service. It involves accessing the system remotely over the internet and filing an online form with the required information demanded by the system. Each registrant is unique, with unique details and login access. In registering a new student, all registrants have to form a very lengthy queue at the screening office before they are attended to. This process keeps the screening officer under constant pressure and thus leads to agitation, tension, increased stress levels and human error. Not forgetting the time taken to sort through, arrange and document student data.
A registered user is a user of a website, program, or other system who has previously registered. Registered users normally provide some sort of credentials (such as a username or e-mail address, and a password) to the system in order to prove their identity: this is known as logging in. Systems intended for use by the general public often allow any user to register simply by selecting a register or sign up function and providing these credentials for the first time. Registered users may be granted privileges beyond those granted to unregistered users. User registration and login enables a system to personalize itself. For example, a website might display a welcome banner with the user's name and change its appearance or behaviour according to preferences indicated by the user. The system may also allow a logged-in user to send and receive messages, and to view and modify personal files or other information (Schapranow, 2014).
Why this is necessary to be implemented as an improvement to the existing system is that it takes away the hassles of a physical registration process and makes it possible for multiple users to carry out the registration process simultaneously without any delays.
It is against this background that this study was initiated to mitigate the challenges identified in the present system.
1.3 Statement of Problem
The major challenge of the current system is the lack of an efficient mode of carrying out the registration process for crèche students and this has led to the following problems;
- The current system requires that students must form long queues at all times before they are attended to.
- The current system keeps the screening officer under constant pressure and this could lead to mistakes.
- Much time is taken to attend to a single student during the registration process.
- Documentation of student registration data is poorly performed and the risk of damage is high.
1.4 Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the study is to develop an online payment and registration system for crèche students that will serve as a more efficient alternative to the current crèche student payment and registration process and the proposed system will achieve the following objectives;
- To provide an online portal that reduces the need to form queues at the crèche screening office.
- To reduce the pressure that the screening officer faces by moving the registrants to an online system.
- To reduce the time taken to attend to a student by providing a system that allows multiple simultaneous registrations.
- To provide an accurate documentation system for the recording of student data. That allows for easy retrieval and sorting of the data.
1.5 Scope of Study
The proposed system will be designed to handle the fees payment and registration of crèche students. The system will be able to keep accurate records of all students and their bio-data and this data can be retrieved effortlessly at any time.
1.6 Limitations of the Study
During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:
- Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
- Establishment Policies: Establishment policies posed a serious limitation as most staffs are not ready to release information needed for this project work. There were lots of information needed from the staffs of this institution to enhance the study which took them time to release or they did not release at all for security purposes, hence the scope was reduced.
- Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
- Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
- Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials.
1.7 Significance of Study
By implementing the proposed system, the following are the potential benefits.
- A decrease in the time it takes to attend to a crèche student during registration.
- A significant reduction in the frequency of human errors that occur during registration.
- There would be a more effective method of documenting student data for easy retrieval.
- The overall efficiency of the registration process will be increased as screening officers will no longer be under much pressure.
Furthermore, the study will serve as a reference material for subsequent researchers.
1.8 Definition Of Terms
Kindergarten – A nursery where babies and young children are cared for during working day.
Credentials – A qualification, achievement, quality, or aspect of a person's background, especially when used to indicate their suitability for something.
Electronic - (of a device) having or operating with components such as microchips and transistors that control and direct electric currents.
Information – What is conveyed or represented by a particular arrangement or sequence of things.
Login – The act of logging in to a database, mobile device, or computer, especially a multiuser computer or a remote or networked computer system.
Online – It is any activity that is performed while connected to a computer or under computer control.
Portal – A website or web page providing access or links to other sites.
Registrant – A person who registers something.
Registration – The action or process of registering or of being registered.
Screening – The evaluation or investigation of something as part of a methodical survey, to assess suitability for a particular role or purpose.
Simultaneous - Occurring, operating, or done at the same time.
Tension – Mental or emotional strain.
Queue – A line or sequence of people or vehicles awaiting their turn to be attended to or to proceed.
