EDUBase prints student ID cards from the Certificates, Cards & Print Designs module: the card takes the photo and details from the student record, applies your logo and colour theme, and prints vertical or horizontal cards with a QR code and expiry. The same QR is read by the free EDUBase QR Attendance App.
What has to be in place before you print ID cards?
An ID card is only as good as the data behind it. Because the card is generated from the student record rather than typed separately, the office work is mostly tidying records, not designing cards.
Once profiles are complete, printing is a repeatable job you can run for a whole class or a whole campus at the start of every session.
- Student photos uploaded on the student profile — the admission form in EDUBase carries guardian details, session, fee plan and photo
- Correct class, section and campus on each record, since multi-campus schools print per campus
- Your school logo, colour theme and footer signatures set on the print templates and branding screen
- The card layout you want: vertical or horizontal, with photo, QR and expiry
- Card stock and a printer that can handle the size you choose, or a print shop that accepts PDFs
How do you actually produce the cards?
Student cards sit in the Certificates, Cards & Print Designs module alongside certificates, letters and staff documents. The card design is a print template your school controls, so once it is set the layout stays consistent for every batch.
EDUBase outputs vouchers, cards, certificates, letters and reports as branded PDFs for print, which means you can print in-house or hand the same file to an outside printer without redesigning anything.
- Choose the students — a class, a section or a campus
- Pick the vertical or horizontal card design
- The photo, name and details come from the student record; the logo and colours come from your branding settings
- The QR code and expiry are printed on the card
- Generate the PDF, check a sample page, then print the batch
What does the QR code on the card do?
The QR code is not decoration. Student and employee QR cards printed from EDUBase work with the free EDUBase QR Attendance App, an Android app that scans cards at the gate or in class and marks attendance in real time.
Because the scan writes to the same attendance records as the class register, everything downstream behaves normally: a gate scan can send an SMS, WhatsApp or app notification to the parent, and the day appears in the usual individual and combined attendance reports. Schools that prefer biometric terminals or face attendance tablets can use those instead — they feed the same attendance tables.
- Scan at the gate for arrival and departure marking
- Scan in class if the teacher prefers a card over the register
- Instant parent notification on a gate scan, by SMS, WhatsApp or app notification
- Devices used for scanning are listed under registered devices and can be removed
Can you print staff cards and other documents the same way?
Yes. The same print-template approach covers employee QR cards, appointment letters, experience letters, character certificates, bank account letters and salary slips from the HR module, plus school leaving certificates, warning letters, consent letters and admission forms.
Keeping all of these on one branding setup means a parent receives the same logo and colours on a fee voucher, a result card and an ID card. A certificates log also records who was issued which certificate and when, so duplicates are not handed out by mistake.
- Employee QR cards printed from the staff record
- Certificates and letters from your own wording templates
- Result cards and reports carrying the same logo, colour theme and signatures
- Certificates log for a record of what was issued
What should admin staff check before a large print run?
Card printing is expensive to redo, so a short check list before the batch saves money. Most errors come from missing photos or students sitting in the wrong class after promotion.
Bulk tools help here: student records can be updated in bulk, and batch transfer and promotion moves a whole class to the next session, so cards printed after promotion show the new class.
- Print one sample card and inspect the photo quality, spelling and QR scan
- Scan the sample with the QR Attendance App to confirm it marks the right child
- Confirm the expiry date matches your session
- Re-check students admitted in the last few days so no child is left out
- Print leavers separately or exclude them — inactive and left students are kept in their own view
Ways schools produce student ID cards, and what each involves
| Approach | What it involves | Photo and logo | QR that marks attendance |
|---|---|---|---|
| EDUBase card print templates | Select students, choose vertical or horizontal design, generate a branded PDF | Photo from the student record, logo and colours from branding settings | Yes — works with the free EDUBase QR Attendance App |
| Outside designer with a name list | Export a list, send it to a designer, proof each batch by email | Photos must be collected and supplied separately | Only if the designer is given codes that a scanner app can read |
| Manual design in a word processor | Type or paste details per child, place photos by hand | Manual and error-prone at scale | No |
| Plain cards without QR | Printed identity only, no scanning | Depends on the tool used | No — attendance stays on the register or a device |
| Biometric or face gates instead of cards | Fingerprint or face terminals, or a face attendance tablet at the gate | No card needed for attendance | Not applicable — punches feed the same attendance records |
Related modules
- Certificates, Cards & Print Designs — Student cards, certificates, letters and every printout in your school's own branding.
- Student Management & Admissions — Every student record, from first enquiry to leaving certificate, in one place.
- QR, Biometric & Geo Attendance — Automatic in/out marking from QR cards, biometric machines and phone location.
- Student Attendance — Mark attendance from the class register, the Teacher App, a QR scan or a gate device, and tell parents instantly.
- Staff Management (HRM) — Employee records, shifts, documents, letters, leave and the Teacher App login, in one place.
- School Setup & Multi-Campus — Campuses, classes, sections, sessions, academic year and reference lists, set once and reused everywhere.