Built for this category
Not a generic HR tool with a checkbox for your industry. The workflows, terminology, and reports match how your operation actually runs — because the platform was designed for it from the start.
Schools & Education
HR & Payroll Software for African Schools, Colleges and Education Groups
Academic and non-academic payroll, term-based contracts, TSC / GES / SACE licence tracking, SACCO multi-fund deductions, teacher salary scales and substitute payroll — built for African schools, colleges and education groups.
12
capabilities
12+
African markets
USD
pricing · local currency view
Mobile · USSD · WhatsApp
every device
Academic-year contracts
Multi-campus posting & cost split
Salary scale & step progression
TSC / GES / SACE licence tracking
SACCO multi-fund deductions
Boarding-staff allowances
Internal teacher loan management
Staff fees waiver as benefit-in-kind
Mobile self-service for teachers
Tap any capability to see the detail · or scroll for the full picture
Connected to payroll
Every event in this module — attendance, leave, timesheet, equipment, incident, performance — flows automatically into the next payroll cycle. No spreadsheet reconciliation, no double entry.
African by design
Statutory rules maintained for 40+ countries, mobile-money payouts, USSD self-service, WhatsApp delivery, multiple languages, offline-capable mobile app for field workers.
The problems we hear most
If any of this sounds familiar,
If any of this sounds familiar,
you're in the right place.
These are the recurring conversations with buyers in this category. We built the platform to retire each of them.
Academic and non-academic staff have completely different pay structures, allowances and tax treatments. Your one spreadsheet tries to handle both and gets one wrong every cycle.
A TSC, GES or SACE inspection arrives unannounced. Producing the matrix of every teacher's licence, registration number, CPD hours and contract type is a week's work each time.
Your teachers belong to 3 or 4 different SACCOs. Each one requires its own export format with its own membership numbers. Finance rebuilds these by hand every month.
Teachers on 9-month academic contracts should have salary pause during long holidays. Your system doesn't understand academic year structure, so you either overpay or fight grievances every January.
Boarding-house masters and matrons get accommodation, food and night-duty allowances on top of basic. Half the deductions and benefits aren't statutory, but your finance team treats them like they are.
Internal teacher loans from your staff welfare fund — start, schedule, defaulters, top-ups — live in a separate spreadsheet that never reconciles cleanly to payroll.
Staff children's fee waivers (often 75–100%) — should they hit payroll as a benefit-in-kind or as a discount on the parent ledger? Your accountant changes their mind every year.
Multi-campus groups: the same teacher works at two campuses; each campus tracks attendance differently; combined payslip required but cost-centre split per campus is impossible to reconcile.
What's built in
Features your team will actually use.
Specific tools for this category — not generic HR repackaged. Each card describes what the feature does and how it fits the way you work.
01
Academic-year contracts
Contract types aligned to your term calendar. Auto-renewal workflows for Term 1 starts. Salary pause/continue rules for long holidays per contract type (9-month vs 12-month).
02
Multi-campus posting & cost split
Post a teacher to N campuses with hour or percentage splits. Payroll consolidates into one payslip while campus P&Ls receive the correct cost attribution automatically.
03
Salary scale & step progression
TSC, KMPDU, KNUT, GES, NHA wage tables import as structured scales. Anniversary step increases happen automatically; negotiated CBA changes propagate to every affected teacher in one operation.
04
TSC / GES / SACE licence tracking
Registration number, issue date, expiry, CPD hours, subject specialisation. Alerts at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days before expiry — to the teacher, HR and the department head. Inspector audit pack in one click.
05
SACCO multi-fund deductions
A teacher belongs to multiple SACCOs — each with its own membership number, share contribution, BOSA/FOSA splits and loan repayment schedule. Payroll cycles produce a separate export per SACCO in each fund's required format.
06
Boarding-staff allowances
Accommodation, meal, night-duty and holiday-on-call allowances. Each with rules for proration when staff are off-campus or on leave.
07
Internal teacher loan management
Application, approval workflow, repayment schedule, defaulter actions, top-up rules — fully integrated with the payroll cycle. Teachers see their balance in the ESS app.
08
Staff fees waiver as benefit-in-kind
Link a teacher to their children's enrolment records. Auto-calculate the waiver value as a taxable BIK on the payslip or as a credit on the parent ledger — per your accounting policy.
09
Mobile self-service for teachers
Payslip download, leave application, document upload, fees-waiver status, loan balance — all in the same ESS app teachers use from their phone.
10
Substitute teacher payroll
Short-engagement contracts (week, term, exam invigilation) with their own pay structure and statutory withholding per country rules. Payment issued at end of engagement, not at month-end.
11
Pension scheme integration
Public-sector schemes (LAPTrust, CPF Ghana, GEPF SA) and private school provident funds. Correct withholding, employer matching and remittance file format per scheme.
12
Term-cycle reporting
Termly cost reports by department, faculty and campus. Salary cost vs fees revenue analysis. HR-to-finance reconciliation by term, ready for board reporting.
Why modules aren't enough
Every event is wired to the next.
Most HR systems sell modules as separate products — and then your team spends every month reconciling between them. SmartHR Africa is one system. Each event in this category flows automatically into the right downstream process.
Academic year roll-over
Term 1 contract renewals
Contracts auto-roll into the new academic year on the term-start date. Salary scale step increases anniversary correctly; pension and SACCO memberships continue without breaks.
SACCO membership
Per-SACCO payroll deduction
One teacher can belong to multiple SACCOs. Each cycle produces a separate remittance file per SACCO in the fund's required format — no manual reformatting by finance.
TSC / GES licence expiry
Compliance alert
Teacher, HR and department head notified 90/60/30/7 days before expiry. Renewals happen on time; inspection visits stop being a surprise.
Multi-campus posting
Cost-centre attribution
Hours or percentage splits across campuses feed payroll once; each campus's P&L receives the correct salary cost attribution automatically.
Internal teacher loan
Auto-deduction & balance
Repayment hits every cycle; running balance visible to the teacher in the ESS app. Top-ups and defaulter actions flow through one approval workflow.
Substitute engagement
Short-contract payslip
Daily or per-lesson rate × hours captured; PAYE withheld per country rules; payslip issued at end of engagement, not held until month-end.
Where this matters most
Live across 12 African markets.
Statutory compliance, local-currency payroll, and salary disbursement options in every market we support. Click through to your country page for in-region pricing, statutory rates, and a calculator.
Yes. Wage scales import as structured tables (grade, step, basic). Anniversary step increases happen automatically. CBA negotiations propagate to every affected teacher in one operation, with full audit trail.
Yes. Contract type "academic-9month" specifies the months that pay runs and which months auto-pause. Long holiday months skip payroll automatically without breaking continuous service or pension contributions.
Each teacher's profile lists every SACCO they belong to with the membership number, share contribution amount and loan repayment schedule. Each payroll cycle produces a separate remittance file per SACCO in that fund's required format.
Each teacher's profile includes their registration number, issue date, expiry, CPD hours and subject specialisation. The system alerts at 90, 60, 30 and 7 days before expiry — to the teacher, HR and the department head.
Each teacher can be posted to multiple campuses with hour or percentage allocation. Payroll generates one consolidated payslip; cost rolls up to each campus correctly for that campus's P&L.
The teacher's profile links to their dependants' enrolment records. The system calculates the waiver value automatically and adds it either as a benefit-in-kind on the payslip (if taxable) or a credit on the parent ledger (if treated as a discount).
A short-engagement contract type captures the period, daily or per-lesson rate, and statutory withholding. Payment is processed at end of engagement with a full payslip — not held until month-end.
Yes. Custom pension scheme configuration per country, with the correct withholding, employer matching and remittance file format that each scheme expects.
Yes. Group HR gets consolidated cost reports (by school, department, role); salary detail stays gated to each campus's HR. Country and campus isolation are enforced at the database query layer — not just the UI.
Typically 3–4 weeks. Week 1 — data migration from your current spreadsheet or HR tool. Week 2 — salary scale, SACCO and pension setup. Week 3 — pilot payroll cycle in parallel with current. Week 4 — go live.
Pricing
Simple USD pricing.
Pay per employee, monthly. Local-currency price on every country page — converted at our locked monthly rate.
Starter
Core HR for growing teams
$10.00
/month base
+ $0.50 /employee/month
- Employee records & profiles
- Leave management
- Web attendance with GPS
- Document management
- Employee self-service portal
- Mobile app access
- Email support
Most Popular
Professional
Full HR + payroll, statutory compliance built in
$50.00
/month base
+ $1.50 /employee/month
- Everything in Starter
- Full local-currency payroll
- Statutory compliance (PAYE / NSSF / NHIF / etc.)
- Performance management
- Recruitment & onboarding
- Expense claims & loans
- Training & certifications
- WhatsApp & SMS notifications
- Priority support
Business
Multi-country operations, full automation
$100.00
/month base
+ $3.00 /employee/month
- Everything in Professional
- Multi-country dashboard
- Projects & timesheets (NGO/donor reporting)
- Biometric device integration
- API access
- White-label option
- Dedicated account manager
- SLA-backed support
See pricing in your local currency on any country page →
See it work on your data.
30 minutes with our team. Bring your countries, your headcount, and the questions your finance and HR leads keep asking — we'll walk you through every module relevant to your operation.