After a five-year project revealed major gaps in education data management, the Health Information Systems Programme (HISP) Uganda is pushing for an Education Management Information System (EMIS) policy for all schools to prioritize data usage for effective planning, writes YUDAYA NANGOZI.
The HISP Uganda project found widespread failure among schools, particularly private institutions, who were reluctant to register their learners and staff digitally. In September 2022, the Education ministry rolled out a web-based EMIS after ceasing manual collection in 2017.
The ministry’s efforts to produce a new detailed statistical abstract using data uploaded to EMIS remain hindered by limited data from private institutions. HISP Uganda stressed that formulating an EMIS policy will enforce compliance and ensure that private schools contribute accurate data to the ministry. Since 2019, HISP Uganda and Save the Children collaborated with the ministry to enhance EMIS using the District Health Information System 2 (DHIS2) for Education.
Originally implemented in the Health sector in 2010, DHIS2 was adapted for education to improve data-driven decision-making. The project, piloted in Ntungamo, Gulu, Mayuge and Wakiso districts resulted in improvements in data collection, management and analysis. Monica Grace Amuha, the team lead for the DHIS2 for Education project in Uganda, emphasized the need for an EMIS policy intervention.
Speaking at a project review meeting at Kabira Country Club in Kampala, Amuha noted that schools lack standardized reporting protocols without a formal policy and remain unaccountable.
“The lack of an EMIS policy has bred complacency. Many private school proprietors believe that if the ministry captures their actual data, they face increased taxation or government scrutiny,” Amuha said.
“This mindset must change, and a policy is essential to ensure compliance.” She said while the ministry had drafted an EMIS policy, it had not gone through the necessary approvals.
The state minister for Primary Education, Dr Joyce Moriku Kaducu, said the reluctance of private schools to submit data has created planning challenges for the ministry.
“Without a comprehensive picture of the education sector, resource allocation such as improving access roads to both government and private schools becomes difficult. Some private schools have even submitted false data,” Kaducu said.
She added that the ministry may not “quickly come up with an EMIS policy but it will introduce guidelines to guide the sector.”
Starting in the Financial Year 2024/25, capitation grants of government schools are determined using EMIS figures which increased compliance. For private schools that continue to resist registration, Kaducu warned of stringent measures.
“For any school that deliberately refuses to provide data, we shall either stop renewing their licenses or revoke their operating permits as we wait for a policy,” she said.
POLICY RESTRICTIONS
According to the Education ministry spokesperson, Dr Denis Mugimba, the ministry had begun drafting an EMIS policy but the Finance ministry declined its approval. The Education ministry was advised to use the national ICT policy that was developed by the ministry of ICT.
“We are still negotiating for an exemption because the ICT policy does not fully address EMIS requirements. For instance, the policy does not mandate parents to provide children’s data or require schools to submit accurate and timely reports,” Mugimba said.
Without a dedicated EMIS policy, Mugimba added that the ministry is dependent on the goodwill of schools to submit data, which is an unreliable and unsustainable approach.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Amuha urged the Education ministry to scale up the DHIS2 for Education progress by integrating it into the existing EMIS platform.
The software can be used to generate school report cards, inspect schools and identify learners at risk of dropping out, among others. She also noted that districts need dedicated data managers, similar to biostatisticians in the health sector, while schools should appoint data focal persons to improve data management.
These are government officials who seem to measure modern digital data for the wide world web in terms of a binary system, with the basic unit being a bit (0 or 1), and a byte consisting of 8 bits. Meaning the smallest units.
Nga bwonabala wafu emu oba shilling emu during those years when Indian rupee currency mattered to African cash trade during the years of 1860-1920. The so called non digital system compliance should be blamed on a government that refuses to update digital technology in Uganda that is at great speed all over the world.
It is up to the various communication networks to sort out the use and taxation over how much data is disseminated all over the country’s digital systems in so many institutions and the rest of the public. Most countries these days provide unlimited data to customers young and old and all on a monthly or yearly basis where afterwards total data management and analysis is properly realized. Trying hard to control digital data usage these days is a waste of time and taxpayer’s money.