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Data-driven decision making through systems integration, utilization, and digitalization: the remarkable case study of The Gambia.

Wed, March 26, 2:45 to 4:00pm, Palmer House, Floor: 3rd Floor, Salon 2

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Overview:
The Education Management Information System (EMIS) system in The Gambia has undergone enormous changes: within ten years it has moved from a paper-based system of disparate data to incredibly well organized, clean data of key indicators and unified school codes captured in a single, consolidated, accessible database. The seismic shift was the result of visionary leadership within the Ministry of Education to create a culture of data-driven decision making that was supported by a range of donors, including the Global Partnership for Education (GPE). GPE’s support has been multifaceted and combined funding and partnership with applied research and capacity strengthening. Driven by the government, the EMIS story of The Gambia is as remarkable as it is instructive for driving data-driven decision making in the digital age.
In the early 1990s, like many in low-income countries The Gambia had a traditional approach to EMIS: supply-led, compilation-oriented. The system provided raw data, usually pulling from one database, and maybe a few indicators, yet did not provide a holistic picture of each school. EMIS data has nonetheless been the livewire for education sector managers and stakeholders involved in the decision-making process. For example, EMIS data are used to help increase accountability for school feeding programs and payment of school improvement grants (SIG), influenced by the ‘school report cards’ sent to schools. Parents and the wider community also use school report cards to inform their decisions for selecting schools for their children, particularly those transitioning from lower primary school level to upper primary and secondary levels.
The school report card is a profile similar to the student report card, providing comparative education data and a means by which stakeholders can assess the performance of the different schools. The card provides comparisons of like with like, so as to make the comparisons fairer and more relevant. For example, if it becomes evidence that math scores are particularly low in a school, it prompts the school and education personnel to allocate resources to remedial math courses and additional training for teachers.

The school report card not only serves as a feedback tool from the EMIS and central offices to the school and community but informs discussions among policymakers, school administrators and other stakeholders (parents, communities and students) on how to improve the performance of the learning institution. The school report card therefore is a tool used during school performance monitoring meetings. These meetings, often chaired by the school management committee (SMC) chairperson or representative, focus on the performance of schools in relation to the resources allocated. Schools are expected to maintain good performance and address gaps, and therefore the meetings are a prerequisite for school improvement planning. The Planning Policy Analysis, Research and Budgeting Directorate (PPARBD) within the Ministry of Education is responsible for EMIS data collection and undertakes the collation, calculation, design and production of customized cards for each school.
While data integration and data utilization were increasing, efforts by GPE in the last five years helped catalyze PPARBD’s vision for a unified, consolidated and comprehensive data with capacity strengthening to inform planning, policy and practice. On the supply side the vision included: creation and maintenance of a unique master list of schools, digitalization of School Report Card, launch of Individual Student IDs, revitalizing the of Daily Attendance System through mobile telephony, and distributing laptops and other devices and VPNs to schools. On the demand side, elements of the vision comprised: creation of common school IDs, assembling historical data sets using a common set of schools, visualization of data including geographical depiction, supporting schools in using data for planning. Finally, in terms of inputs and capacity strengthening, collaborations with Cisco, UNICEF Innocenti and the University of Oslo EMIS program (DHIS2) helped create a Master’s level EMIS program within the University of The Gambia and a suite of PhD and Master’s research activities. These were supported by a range of GPE activities including strategic planning support (GPE partnership compact) and grants (planning and implementation), the GPE Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX), and the GPE Data Roundtable (DRT) which grew in to the Education Data Leadership Program (EDLP).
The result is a school-based system where data flow up as a by-product of school management, individual student records, a school HR component such as staff daily attendance, teacher characteristics, and timetabling, daily pupil attendance reporting via SMS and handheld devices, school administration routines such as financial transactions and records, historical exam results, and an overall greater emphasis on capacity building throughout the system. Equally significantly, all this data can be delivered by the EMIS unit, on request, from one central database. The capabilities are phenomenal and exemplary.

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