A view from the ground: The Gambian and Ethiopian experience

• In Event: Strengthening data for better education systems

Proposal

Since 2010, The Gambia has been able to collect and provide education data through its EMIS in a timely basis. The development and implementation of EMIS and linking of data to School Improvement Grants (SIGs), has contributed to more consistent growth of The Gambia’s education system and relevant school improvements by providing schools with: (i) quantifiable data, (ii) timely deadlines, and (iii) constructive feedback.

The education sector plan (Education Sector Strategic Plan 2016-2030)7 outlines the following thirteen objectives as priorities for improving The Gambia’s EMIS:
1. Provide effective ICT literacy training.
2. Train educational administrators on ICT-based activities; including planning and management tools.
3. Provide professional development opportunities on the use of strategic ICT tools such as the EMIS.
4. Train ICT Management personnel in areas such as software, hardware, networking and web content development and cyber security.
5. Provide improved network technology such as WAN with high speed internet access.
6. Develop a system to capture and manage all the records in electronic format.
7. Develop a system to capture individual student and teacher IDs at school level.
8. Preserve all paper records based on established policy.
9. Develop a better equipped and well-managed 21st century national library.
10. Establish/strengthen a labor-market information system in the sector.
11. Develop and maintain a comprehensive data bank on human capital in education sector institutions.
12. Develop a format for data collection that will ensure consistency across the system and an internet-based database.
13. Establish a comprehensive geographic information system.

In 2013, The Gambia introduced staggered free education starting with Primary School (2013), Lower Secondary (2014), and Upper Secondary (2015). In parallel, the country is currently undertaking a process to refine their data collection process by shifting a focus on individual schools towards the individual child to better monitor/ensure quality education. Although significant efforts have been made in improving the quality of education using data systems, The Gambia still faces many challenges to further developing EMIS, including but not limited to:
• Redundancies
• Lack of documentation and transparency
• Capacity and economic constraints
• No data protection/security

Past challenges ad lessons learned in The Gambia will be reviewed in this presentation, as well as the country’s future plans for EMIS developments.

Authors

• Elias Wakjira, Ministry of Education, Ethiopia

• Alpha Bah, Ministry of Education, The Gambia