India puts a strong emphasis on academic achievement and traditional education. But still to this day, primary school is seen as the only first legitimate stage in their children’s education, causing extremely low attendance rates in Anganwadi centres.

To help establish Anganwadi centres as a legitimate stepping stone in education before primary school, we're going to incentivize parents to send their children more frequently by working with the Indian government to create the world's first-ever grant deposited and calculated through WhatsApp: Attendance Rates.The amount received by each family from the government will be determined by the child's monthly attendance. If a child shows up 100% of the time, they’ll receive 100% of the grant. However, if they only show up 10% of the time, they’ll only receive 10%. So the grant will not only entice parents to take their kids to the centres more often but the money itself will also be used to help cover future educational costs, such as pricey primary school fees—a big expense for many low-income families.

Beyond the perception of Anganwadi centres as illegitimate places for learning, attendance rates are low because parents don't feel there's enough incentive to take their children to them. They simply view them as places for their kids to play for a few hours and have a meal.

We'll partner with the Indian government to create a grant that they'll be incentivized to approve since it'll help improve children's education, which, in turn, reduces the unemployment rate.

Using WhatsApp, the most popular communication app in India, we'll message Anganwadi groups, letting parents know their kids are eligible—as long as they show up to their local centre.

We'll track attendance using WhatsApp's tracking capabilities and by geofencing each Anganwadi centre, so when parents step into the "zone" while dropping their child off, it'll prompt the app and record their attendance.

Parents will also receive attendance updates, notifications, and reminders to help encourage them. And attendance streaks will be celebrated among Anganwadi WhatsApp groups to inspire others.

At the end of each month, the grant will be transferred using a WhatsApp feature that's exclusive to India, WhatsApp Payments, so parents can put it towards their child's future education.