A man writes a name on a paper. The gate opens. That is the system today.

Kiosk mechanics — what hardware actually sits at the gate

The kiosk design is deliberately ordinary. Specialist biometric hardware introduces vendor lock-in and high replacement cost. A standard Android tablet does everything the school actually needs.

The hardware at the gate:

• Android tablet (8-10 inch). Typical ₹15,000-25,000 from any major Indian retailer. Mounted on a stand at the guard's desk. The SchoolDeck Visitor app is installed and locked to kiosk mode — the guard cannot exit to other apps, change settings or browse the internet.
• Thermal label printer. Typical ₹3,000-5,000. Connects to the tablet via Bluetooth or USB. Prints the visitor's photo badge on a standard 4×6 inch label. No specialist consumables — refill rolls are commodity stationery.
• Wi-Fi or 4G connectivity. The kiosk must reach the SchoolDeck cloud for OTP dispatch, host notification, audit-log write. School Wi-Fi typically covers the gate area; otherwise the tablet's mobile data plan handles it.
• Optional: Bluetooth QR scanner. ₹2,000-3,000. Used for express-entry on event days (Annual Day, PTM) where pre-registered parents scan their issued QR code.

Total gate setup cost typically under ₹30,000. Schools with multiple gates (main gate + secondary gate + boarder gate for residential schools) run one kiosk per gate; they all sync to the same cloud campus roster. The school's existing security guard staff operate the kiosk — no specialist tech operator needed.

SMS OTP flow — what stops the fake mobile number

The paper register fails at one specific point: a visitor can write a fake mobile number and the guard cannot easily verify it. Calling the number to confirm is awkward in front of the visitor and impractical at scale. The OTP flow closes this gap structurally.

The flow on screen:

• Visitor enters their mobile number on the kiosk tablet.
• SchoolDeck dispatches a 6-digit OTP via SMS through the school's TRAI DLT-registered SMS channel — same regulated channel that delivers fee receipts and attendance alerts through /features/communication-tool/.
• The visitor's own phone receives the OTP within 5-15 seconds (typical Indian SMS latency).
• The visitor reads the OTP off their phone and types it into the kiosk tablet.
• If the OTP doesn't arrive — wrong number, number not currently with the visitor, number switched off — the session stalls. The visitor cannot proceed.

This is not cryptographic identity verification. It is a structural test: does the mobile number actually belong to the person standing here right now? That's enough to defeat the fake-number-on-paper attack, which is the realistic threat at most Indian school gates. The OTP itself is short-lived (typical 10-minute validity); even sharing it doesn't grant a different person entry because the host approval (next step) is also required.

Side-by-side host approval — the honest mechanism, not AI face-matching

The clearest place to be honest with school principals: this module does not do automated AI face-matching on minor-related identities. The mechanism is structurally different — and structurally better — than AI matching.

What actually happens:

• The visitor selects who they want to meet from an on-screen roster — staff names ("Mrs. Kapoor, Class 7-B Coordinator"), or "parent of [student name]" if visiting as a parent.
• The selected host's SchoolDeck app receives a silent push notification. No intercom call. No loud announcement.
• The notification opens to a clean comparison view: visitor's live kiosk photo on the left, the student's registered Authorized Guardian photo (auto-pulled from /features/students/) on the right. Both photos shown at the same size, side by side.
• The host visually compares. If matched, taps Approve. If not matched, taps Deny with a reason note. Reply-with-instruction is also available ("please wait in reception for 10 minutes").

The host is the right person to make this judgment — they may have met this parent before, know the family situation, recognise a relative. An AI model trying to face-match the visitor's kiosk photo to the guardian record carries known risks: false matches under poor lighting, demographic bias in commercial face-recognition systems, and the deeper concern of running automated identity decisions on minor-related identities. The POCSO Act 2012 + DPDP Act 2023 environment makes that a place where schools should not be early adopters of automated AI. The host doing a visual side-by-side comparison is the responsible mechanism.

Photo badge printing — visible identification on campus

Once the host approves, the kiosk-connected thermal printer prints a temporary photo badge. The visitor wears it visibly during the campus visit. The badge carries:

• Visitor's kiosk photo — printed at the top, large enough that other staff can recognise the face.
• Visitor's name and stated purpose — "Mr. Mehta · Parent of Aarav · Class 7-B."
• Host's name — "Meeting: Mrs. Kapoor."
• Valid-until time — typically 60-90 minutes from approval. After this, the badge is operationally void.
• Unique session ID — for the exit kiosk to scan and close the session.

Why visible photo badges matter on a school campus: a non-staff person walking through corridors without a badge is now an immediate visual exception. Any teacher, any cleaning staff member, any senior student can quickly identify them as someone who hasn't gone through the gate process. The badge is a low-tech but high-effective signal — and the thermal-printer cost (₹3-5k one-time) makes it affordable for any school.

Custody-restriction flag — court-ordered access blocks

One of the highest-stakes responsibilities of a school principal is honouring custody and guardianship orders. A parent in a contested custody case may have a court-ordered restriction preventing access to their child during school hours. The school carries the duty to honour that order even if the front-gate security guard has never seen the order.

The implementation:

• The flag is set in the student record. An authorised admin — typically the Principal, on the basis of a written family request or a court order — updates the student's profile in /features/students/ to add a custody-restriction record. The record carries the restricted person's mobile number and (where known) name. /features/role-based-access/ ensures only the Principal can set or unset this flag.
• The kiosk reads the flag. When a visitor's entered mobile number matches a flag on any active student record, the guard's tablet displays an immediate red warning. The OTP flow does not proceed.
• The Principal gets a silent SMS. Same moment as the warning displays. The Principal can intervene from their phone.
• The guard's instruction is simple. Do not approve. Do not engage in argument. Escalate to the Principal. The visitor is politely turned away. The denial is logged with reason in /features/audit-logs/.

This is a Juvenile Justice Act 2015 Sections 41-42 obligation (institutional duty around custody and authorised guardianship). The technical control supports the legal duty — it does not replace the school's judgment, but it removes the guard's discretion in cases where discretion is the wrong tool.

Vendor Material In/Out — closing the asset leakage gap

Vendors come and go through school gates every day: catering staff with trays, IT technicians with laptop bags, AV technicians with cables and projectors, courier deliveries. Without a structured In/Out record, school assets and vendor belongings get mixed up — sometimes innocently, sometimes not.

The Material In/Out workflow:

• On entry: The vendor declares Material In — equipment brought from outside. The guard types "1 laptop bag, 1 router box, 2 cable rolls" or uses pre-defined dropdown items.
• During the visit: The Material In list is part of the visitor's session record. The Principal or any authorised admin can see what's currently inside.
• On exit: The guard checks Material Out against Material In. If the vendor is leaving with what they brought, the session closes normally and the guard opens the barrier.
• If different: Vendor leaving with extras ("1 laptop bag in, 2 laptop bags out") triggers a digital approval request to the relevant department head — IT Head for laptops, Admin Officer for office equipment, depending on the item type. The request goes through the SchoolDeck app; the boom barrier stays closed until approval comes through.
• Asset events log. Approved Material Out events that involve school-owned items log to /features/inventory-management/ for the Trust's Fixed Asset Register reconciliation under Companies Act 2013 Schedule II.

Kiosk ≠ Compliance Solution ≠ Boarder Gate Pass ≠ Asset Tracking

The SchoolDeck access-control cluster spans four ownership layers. Knowing the boundaries helps schools evaluate them correctly.

• This page · /features/visitor-management/ — Owns the gate kiosk mechanics. OTP dispatch, host approval flow, photo badge printing, vendor Material In/Out workflow, custody-restriction enforcement. The IT or Administrative Officer-facing technical-mechanism page.
• /solutions/visitor-management/ — Owns the end-to-end compliance buyer story. NCPCR Manual 2021 + NDMA Policy 2016 + CBSE Circular 24/2023 covered as a complete narrative for the Principal evaluating audit-readiness. The buyer-outcome solutions page.
• /features/hostel-management/ — Owns the 3 PM onwards residential gate pass for boarding schools. In Loco Parentis, parent OTP for outgoing boarder, nightly biometric headcount, RMO infirmary log, mess operations. CBSE Circular 24/2023 boarding-specific compliance. A separate flow because boarders' gate operations are structurally different from day visitor entry.
• /features/inventory-management/ — Owns the Fixed Asset Register. Vendor Material In/Out events involving school-owned items log here for Schedule II Section A depreciation and audit reconciliation.

Four pages, four owned layers. This page is for the Administrative Officer asking "what does the kiosk actually do, how does it physically work, what hardware do we buy, what does each kiosk session look like?"

Paper visitor register vs SchoolDeck digital kiosk

Practical differences for an Administrative Officer running a gate operation across 1,500-3,000 student schools with ~30-80 visitors per day.