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In short
- A cashless canteen swaps coins and notes for a tag or wristband that each student taps at the till.
- Parents top up a family wallet by bank card and give each child their own pocket money. A child can spend only what is in their own pocket.
- The school sees every sale as it happens, and the canteen operator is paid to a bank account every week.
- With the till, readers and tags supplied, a school goes from signing to its first cashless day in about two weeks.
Why schools are moving away from cash
Cash at the canteen costs more than it looks. Queues grow while change is counted, coins go missing between home and school, and someone has to count and reconcile a cash box every afternoon. Nobody can say afterwards what a particular child bought.
Parents see even less. Money given in the morning is gone by the break, and they cannot tell where it went or whether their child ate. A cashless canteen fixes both sides at once: the school has a record of every sale, and parents see each purchase in the app.
How a cashless canteen works
- Every student gets a tag or wristband, linked to their name, class and photo.
- Parents top up a family wallet by bank card, then send each child pocket money, by hand or automatically every school day.
- The student taps at the till. The cashier sees the student's photo and name, never the balance, and the sale goes through only if the child's own pocket covers it.
- Everyone sees the same sale. The parent sees it in the app, the school sees it in its portal, and the operator's sales add up to a weekly statement.
What you need
- At the counter: a till, a reader at each till, and a tag or wristband for every student.
- Behind it: one system that connects students, parents and tills, records every payment once, and pays the canteen operator.
- People: a canteen manager, the cashiers, and someone at school to pair each tag with its student.
On STUTAP, the till (Odoo POS), the readers and the tags are supplied and set up for you. The school runs its own portal, and parents use the STUTAP app.
Five decisions to make before day one
- Who runs the canteen. Your own team, or a vendor working under an agreement with the school.
- What happens when a tag is lost. Parents should be able to freeze it from the app, so the next tap is refused.
- What happens if the internet drops. Decide whether the till keeps selling for cash in the meantime. STUTAP's till does.
- Where refunds go. Back to the wallet that paid. It is the simplest rule for everyone.
- Whether to offer pre-ordering. When parents order tomorrow's meal the day before, queues get shorter and the kitchen knows what to make.
A two-week switch
Week one: set up. Set up your campuses, grades and classes with us, import your students from an Excel or CSV file, and install the till and readers.
Week two: bring parents in. Tell parents early, through the school's usual channels, the day cash stops and how to link their account. Give out the tags for parents to pair in the app, keep a help desk open for the first few days, and go cashless on the agreed day.
Read the full checklist: Going cashless, a checklist for Egyptian schools