Introduction:
Salaam Mumbai Foundation (SMF) works on tobacco control throughout the state of Maharashtra and in 7 other states in India. The issue of monitoring, especially reaching out to far-off locations is a concern when trying to reach out to remote rural areas. Earlier SMF staff used to travel physically to remote locations for monitoring; schools used to maintain hard copies of their TFS files, which had a certain cost associated with it. Therefore, to address the issue we thought of developing a data system that involves an individual or school entering their unique UDISE code and uploading their TFS status online. SMF has recently launched an application on Google Play Store called “Tobacco Free School”.

Objectives:
Through this app, one can upload its Tobacco Free School status on 11 criteria as suggested by CBSE board from any part of Maharashtra State, along with photos and evidence.

Methods:
First, SMF sensitized all partner teachers and school-level stakeholders about the application through training workshops. Education and health authorities supported this cause and encouraged schools to upload a high number of relevant files online. Furthermore, the Admin panel is handled by SMF, who has record of log of activities of user accessing the app. SMF can accept and reject the individual files as per the criterion requirements.

Results:
SMF has received 22000 files from schools across Maharashtra. Out of this around more than 10000 schools have declared as tobacco free through this app.

Conclusion(s):
Introduction of this online monitoring tool has saved considerable efforts and resources in paperwork and travel time, and simplified district wise reporting system, where at one click one can find the TFS status of any district in Maharashtra.