ADVISORY NOTE
To:
Director of Basic Education Division, Ghana Education
Service
From:
Advisory Unit on Decentralised Education Management,
BED, GES
Document number:
AN001-2012
Date:
10 April 2012
Re: Concept Note: Introduction of Web-based Centralised Database for EMIS
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Concept Note: Introduction of Web-based Centralised Database for EMIS
Background
Amid the on-going decentralisation process and in order to transfer authorities and functions of central offices to districts, it is necessary for district offices to be equipped with the required skills for management as well as for sufficient utilisation of the management information system that would allow them determine their own educational needs (plan) and policies and enable them monitor their progress. The Education Management Information System (EMIS) has been serving a large amount of management information with year by year improvement but is not yet sufficiently supportive for districts, and even regions, to make their own analysis. This concept note proposes the way forward on how to establish enabling management environment for districts through the reformation of the EMIS process.
Current process of EMIS
The current process of EMIS is described as follows:
• EMIS team in the headquarters physically visits all district offices to ensure that their computers could be completely configured to set up data entry software for school census.
• Database made in the previous year is deactivated at district offices in order to avoid any confusion with the current year's database. Only officers with ICT knowledge and skills can refer to previous years' database.
• District officers enter school census data into the database in districts.
• EMIS team physically visit all district offices again to make copies of the district database.
• EMIS team develops central database at the HQ by using collected data from districts and distribute the census report to all districts and regions.
• Only EMIS team has access to the central database to analyse the EMIS data in multiple years.
2 Challenges in the current system
Below are critical challenges in the current system.
• It takes more than four months to complete the process as EMIS team needs to visit all districts physically. Because of this, data collection exercise can be done only once a year.
• This makes it difficult for EMIS to merge School Report Card as SRCs need to be issued three times a year.
• District officers cannot extract data freely from the district database. It is mostly for data entry only. Only the headquarters can enjoy benefits of the EMIS database. • District database is under threat of computer virus at any time.
• It is difficult for district officers without proficient ICT skills to refer to database of previous years .
• Regional offices are not involved in the process. They don't have regional database. Only the census report from EMIS team is the source for their works.
Newly developed EMIS reporting module for districts
Software has been developed to extract data required for ADPR from district database. The software has made district officers to analyse EMIS data more easily. But there are still problems unsolved as indicated below:
District database
Central Database
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• Data in district database may differ from data of central database as EMIS team sometimes needs to make some adjustment on collected database because of missing schools.
• District database are still under threat of computer virus.
• Adjustments from HQ on district database such as connecting database of school age population, BECE/WASSCE, etc. are difficult as these database are run by different institutes.
Proposed system to overcome the problems
In order to overcome above-mentioned problems, it is proposed that a web-based centralised database is introduced on the basis of the current EMIS database. Its features are as follows:
• Central database is put in a server with a web-based interface so that each district office is able to access it to enter school census data through internet.
• Districts which have difficulty in accessing internet should come to some districts nearby where there is internet access or come to regional capitals to access the central database.
• Central database should also be equipped with reporting modules for various reporting purposes so that district offices can quickly extract required data. • EMIS team in HQ maintains the central database, makes necessary adjustments on
data, and gives help-desk services to districts.
Merits of the proposed system
Below are considerable merits of introducing the proposed system.
Districts with no database but just interface
Central Database
Regional Offices Data entered and delivered directly through internet
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• District offices do not have to maintain district database. This means that the process does not need to maintain all 171 individual database. Just one central database is enough to be maintained. No need to install and update anti-virus software to all PCs of district database.
• District officers are able to use the data they entered in more usable formats such as MS Excel
• District officers are able to analyse multiple year data, not only one year. • Regional officers are also able to use the data in their region.
• District and regional officers can quickly obtain data for their various requirements. • Adjustments made by EMIS team can be easily reflected to data used by districts and
regions.
• Annual costs of the school census could be reduced.
• The system makes it possible to collect data several times a year. It makes it possible to merge SRCs into EMIS, which makes it much easier for district officers and even school headteachers to access EMIS and SRC data.
• Access to the central database can be controlled by usernames and passwords.
Example of similar systems
Below are websites that could be referred to for images of the proposed system.
• The Council for Development of Cambodia: ODA Database(http://cdc.khmer.biz/) • National University of Educational Planning and Administration: District Information
System for Education (http://www.dise.in/dise.html)
Requirements to introduce the new system
• A consultancy firm (locally available) needs to be hired to develop the web-based database.
• Servers and other necessary devices need to be purchased.
• EMIS team needs to be fully trained on management of the system and on delivering help-desk supports to users.
• Rough cost estimate: USD 300,000 to 400,000 • Required duration: one year
Process for the introduction 1) Hiring a consultancy firm 2) System development 3) Pilot test in a particular area
4) System adjustment according to test results 5) Procurement of required equipment
6) Training for EMIS team for management of the system 7) Training for users on how to use the system
