Facilitating Evidence-Based Educational Management through ICT ITU Asia-Pacific Regional Development Forum 16 May 2012, Bangkok, Thailand Jonghwi Park Programme Specialist, ICT in Education UNESCO Asia and Pacific Regional Bureau for Education

2 Transparent & Effective Governance for Education Think about our own country context -A teacher who wants to develop lesson plans aligned with national curriculum -A headmaster who wants to monitor dropout rates of his/her school with national/provincial/district averages -A government committee who needs to decide on a new line of investment on procuring computers for schools

3 Stock taking/ Benchmarking Policy formulation/ goal setting Management (resources) Monitoring Information Needs at All Levels of Education Role of Educational Management Information System Data/ Information Data/ Information Data/ Information Data/ Information

Management and operation of an EMIS Source: Powell, M. (2006). Rethinking Education Management Information Systems: Lessons from and Options for Less Developed Countries. InfoDev, p.11. EMIS is a way to provide the foundation for decision making at every level of the education system.

UNESCO’s Initiatives: OpenEMIS Why OpenEMIS? – Deficiency and weakness of EMIS in many countries (lack of robust information system) – Need for database with basic features common to most countries OpenEMIS Main Characteristics: – A generic tool, designed by UNESCO: Adaptable to various country contexts (administrative & education structure, customized indicators…) – Available to member countries without any restriction (open source code) – Strong database engine to handle multi-year large datasets (nationwide) – Facilitate the building of an EMIS fitting users needs at various levels (central, regional, local) – User friendly interface

For more info, please contact: Mr Pierre Chapelet

Two Main Components  EMIS Builder: allows Ministry administrators to customize the software to the country context & information needs  EMIS User: allows users to  Enter/Process and view data  Calculate indicators  Produce reports & graphics  Manage user rights & data dissemination policy

OpenEMIS Builder: Functionalities  Setting up of Geographical Divisions:  Ex1: Administrative divisions (State, Aimags, Soums…)  Ex2: Type of Area (Urban, Rural)  Importing existing data on administrative structure  Geographical divisions are used for data aggregation  Setting up of the Education Structure:  Levels, Cycles, Programme Orientations & Fields of Study  Customisation of data and information categories:  Education Institutions  Infrastructures & materials  Teaching and non-teaching staff  Cost & expenditure variables

OpenEMIS User: Main Functionalities Managing a directory of Educational Institutions Entering, controlling, processing and viewing data Analyzing Data: consolidation, aggregation, indicators, statistical reports User management (user rights & messaging system) Management of data production cycle

MySQL Database Data replication through LAN or Internet EMIS User WORKSTATIONS Country Level Regional Level Local Level (Educational Institutions or Centres) Setup using EMIS Builder Setup using EMIS Builder OpenEMIS Deployment in Mongolia

Challenges in EMIS Evolutionary, not revolutionary Captures both quantitative and qualitative information Customized, responsive, and sustainable Backed by strong commitment among stakeholders Includes institutional building and capacity development for proper collection, dissemination, and use of information

Thank You