Education Information or the Edi program was trialled in nine state schools in November last year, and launched across all public c schools in June.

The program collects the daily attendance, absenteeism, learning and NAPLAN results of all students in government schools.

It sees if a student is having too many sick days, tells which schools have the most truancy, and can show a drop in a student’s learning results.

Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said it informed teaching practice, and could improve student outcomes.

The education department’s Colin Pettit said in Budget Estimates that Edi tracked every student in every class, 12 hours a day.

‘‘On a daily basis it will throw up alerts on particular children’’ Mr Pettit said.

‘‘It is very visual for principals and teachers to see up-to-date information on every student,’’ he said.

‘‘Schools are now using it to bring parents in to say ‘Do you know this is what is happening to your child?’ and it is making an enormous difference in a range of areas.’’

Mr Rockliff provided an example where Edi showed that a particular child had wagged school for many days.

‘‘A parent ... was having some challenges in the home environment. Her child was absent from school for a considerable period of time and she did not realise until the principal sat down and explained exactly how many days,’’ Mr Rockliff said.

‘‘The parent got very emotional and it is my understanding that the child has not missed a day of school since,’’ he said.

‘‘If there is an issue that is highlighted as to a dip in performance,  it can match that up with other data, it might be around attendance or non-attendance, and a picture is formed.’’

Edi was developed in Tasmania over two years, and two Australian states are interested in adopting the program.