CHALLENGES IN EDUCATION MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SYSTEM IN DEVELPOING

COUNTRIES

Sajjad Ahmad Bhatti Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar

Peshawar, Pakistan sajjadbhatti25000@gmail.com

Awais Adnan Institute of Management Sciences Peshawar

Peshawar, Pakistan awaisadnan@gmail.com

Abstract—Education Management Information System not only means to gather statistics from the schools by following people, models, methods, procedures, processes, rules and regulations but it actually also relates with the emerging computer technology to get all mentioned functions work together to provide comprehensive, integrated, relevant, reliable, unambiguous and timely data to education leaders, decisions makers, planners and managers to perform their responsibilities efficiently to achieve the set goals. Computer technology provides technical support to the education management information systems by providing right people with right information at the right time to make best decisions, planning and monitoring in the best interest of organization. In this paper challenges to EMIS in NWFP are discussed by a study of the existing system

Keywords- Traditional EMIS Management; Computer Technology; Diligent, Data Integration and Dissemination; Accessibility and Management Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION North West Frontier Province (NWFP)-EMIS is

functioning under the Elementary & Secondary Education Department for conducting census of all government & private schools including Primary, Middle, High and Higher Secondary and Deeni Madaris in the Province. EMIS in NWFP was established at Provincial level in 1990-1991 in the Directorate of Primary Education with the provision to provide timely, reliable, relevant and economical information regarding Schools, from Primary up to Secondary level, to planners, researchers and all the concerned departments for good governance and better decision making for the Education development in NWFP. NWFP-Education Management Information System is now decentralized with a purpose to support education planning and decision making at decentralized level and to make each district office functional in collecting accurate and up to date infrmation from every school. Each district EMIS is moaintaining its local database to perform data entry process at the district level. Provincial EMIS cells usually gather data through districts EMIS cells compile and integrate it into main database to generate annual statistical report for the districts and other stakeholders. But for functional EMIS, adequate computing environment is also essential which include proper network and computing infrastructure, sufficient capacity of servers, backups and security facilities along with appropriate and regular

maintenance which going to be very important in today’s information demand society. Education Management Information System not only means to gather statistics from the schools by following people, models, methods, procedures, processes, rules and regulations but it actually also relates with the emerging computer technology to get all mentioned functions work together to provide comprehensive, integrated, relevant, reliable, unambiguous and timely data to education leaders, decisions makers, planners and managers to perform their responsibilities efficiently to achieve the set goals. Computer technology provides technical support to the education management information systems by providing right people with right information at the right time to make best decisions, planning and monitoring in the best interest of organization. The significance of this study is to put a sight on the trend of evolution in computer technology especially in the management of EMIS processes with the key factors (timely and reliable productivity of data, data integration & data sharing and efficient utilization of data) required for the successful development and working of Education Management Information System for efficient planning & decision making. The objective of this study is to examine the trend in utilizing the power of information technology in the management of EMIS process to find challenges regarding integration, timeliness and reliability of data. In the light of objective it was hypothesized that ICT Communication management will enhance the diligent working capacity and help in speedy and efficient decision making. It was also hypothesized that presently the infrastructure of traditional and manual collection, compilation and integration of data from the district EMIS cells is slow and mostly inaccurate. Structure of the paper is formed as that in section 2 Literature Review is provided in detail. Section 3 consists of methodology used to collect statistics from district EMIS cells. In section 4 results are analyzed and discussed. Section 5 consists of major challenges faced by EMIS to achieve its targets and goals and in the last section recommendation has been given.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW MIS is an integrated machine system for providing

information to support the operations, management, and decision-making functions in an organization [1]. Information consists of data being processed and made meaningful to the users while system consists of set of components used to

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operate together to make possible conversion of data into information for use by any decision maker within or outside an organization. [2-4] . MIS is used at various levels in an organization to provide support in the organization’s long term strategic milestones. [5] . Education Management Information System can be defined as a system use to collect, integrate, process, maintain and disseminate integrated set of relevant, reliable, unambiguous and timely data and Information to education leaders, decisions makers, planners and managers at all levels to perform their responsibilities to achieve the goals and objectives of an organization [6]. There are three key measures for the success of Education Management Information System includes timely and reliable production of data & information, data integration & data sharing among various EMIS offices and efficient use of data & information for policy decisions [7] . In many countries rapid increases in the internet usability getting strong impact on integration accessibility, dissemination and usability of timely and accurate data [8] . Web is used to provide distributed environment with extension of different digital libraries with new material [9, 10] . Web based architecture is used to connect media between subsystems developed, executing and located on different platforms and locations and number of users using web technologies is getting day by day guarantees low cost and reliable support during development [11]. In Philippines, BNFE (Bureau of Non Formal Education) have established Inter-Office Communication System to electronically link all NFE offices at all levels for sharing of files, reports, important email messages across the internet for fast operations of the NFE office [12]. China also emphasized on the integration of all independent subsystems of Hospital Information System for to provide any medical information located at different places via some communication medium for the hospital staff and patients [13]. Nigeria has developed new EMIS infrastructure based on web-based networks, ready for acceptance in an increasing number of states to improve information quality for stakeholders [14]. While UNESCO Institute for Statistics have provided proposals to Ghana to develop web-based solution for Education Management Information System to provide improved information quality to planners, decisions makers and stake holders [15] .

For the institutionalization of EMIS in Pakistan, in May 1997 Ministry of Education (MOE) started a project NEMIS (National Education Management Information System) to provide timely, accurate and reliable information to policy & decision makers, planners and also to other users to do best of theirs in education planning, monitoring & evaluation functions, which was extended up to 30th June, 2003. In continuation of this project, in the next phase another project was started in July, 2003 to cater for the changing situation under the devolution of power to district level to help ensuring data generation capabilities and to develop statistical profiles [16, 17]. Provincial EMIS cells usually gather data through districts EMIS cells and produce Annual Statistical Report for the districts and then this and the other provinces Annual Statistical Reports are used to produce National educational statistics [18, 19] . But for functional EMIS, adequate computing environment is also essential which include proper

network and computing infrastructure, sufficient capacity of servers, backups and security facilities along with appropriate and regular maintenance which going to be very important in today’s information demand society [20]. In the year 2008, AEPAM(Academy for Education Planning and Management) with the assistance of ED-Links and the USAID arranged EMIS working Sessions from 24th to 27th Nov at Karachi wherein international and local consultants were also invited to perform rapid internal assessment of the existing EMIS system and recommended few very important and major suggestions which very necessary for any functional EMIS includes Internet Communication System as the primary mode of communication to provide availability and usability of data for decision makers at all levels [21] .

III. METHODOLOGY This research study is based on descriptive type of research

in which data is collected through observations, discussions and questionnaires. This research study explains the stimulus response of the DEMIS cells about key issues of EMIS without being using the laboratory techniques. It is not done experimentally at all. In this research study DEMIS survey was the key way to collect correct and accurate data from DEMIS cells as well as observations and discussions with Provincial EMIS staff and GTZ consultants. So the primary data is based on observations, discussion and survey done in DEMIS of NWFP Province. There are 24 District EMIS cells existing in all 24 districts of NWFP. 12 districts EMIS cells were selected randomly for sampling purpose during the research. Questionnaire was developed for to conduct survey in each District EMIS cell in NWFP. Data gathered was being tabularized and then analyzed by using charts and graphs in Microsoft Excel, 2007. The data analysis had been expressed in frequencies and percentage for further interpretation in simple form.

IV. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Following are the graph of the results that are obtained

form the questioner collected from the different office of the provinces.

Figure.1 shows dual response about type of database software in use. Majority of EMIS cells are also using MS Excel software for data entry purposes besides access database provided by the Provincial Cell.

Figure 1. Type of Database Software.

This access database is installed in each individual computer of each EMIS cell as responded by all EMIS cells shown in Figure. 2.

Figure 2. Data Entry Environment

Figure. 3 shows 50 / 50 response of the 12 district EMIS cells of NWFP about computer protection by secure password. In consequences of that in 5 (42%) out of 12 districts, computers are not protected by unauthorized personnel as shown in Figure. 4. Virus protection software have been deployed in 67% EMIS cells, with McAfee and Symantec / Norton providing the majority of protection and the free version of AVG by Grisoft making some inroads as shown in Figure. 5.

Figure 3. Computer Protection by Secure Password

Figure 4. Unauthorized Access to Computer

Figure 6 shows the popularity of methods used to take backup of data. Most popular and frequently used method for backup of data is via USB Flash Drives.

This database backup is taken on regular basis in 58% District EMIS cells. In discussion with Provincial EMIS staff they said that USB Flash drives is portable devices and

can be taken to home as well for to work off time. Besides those districts, only use optical media or external hard drives, statistics also shows diversity of methods using for having data backup in most districts

Figure 5. Availability of Virus Protection

Figure 6. Methods of Having Backup of Software Data

Figure 7. Regular Database Backup

Figure 8. Availability of Local area Network

Figure. 8 show that only 3 (25%) out of 12 districts have local area network (LAN) available unlike 8 (67%) while 1 district have given no response. In the discussion with Provincial EMIS staff it is perceived that the local area network is layout in a workgroup environment only for resource sharing e.g. printer etc. Analysis shows that internet is not widely adopted as a primary mode of communication in all the district EMIS cells. Figure. 9 shows that internet service is available in 8 out of 12 District EMIS cells. Wherein 5 district EMIS cells are using broadband DSL internet service, 2 district EMIS cells are using dial up while 1 DEMIS is using vfone dial up internet service to connect to internet. But Figure. 10 shows that only 2 (17%) districts EMIS cells are using internet as a primary mode of communication to send and receive emails to and from the Provincial EMIS office.

Figure 9. Type of Internet Service Availability

Figure 10. Internet Usability as a Medium of Communication

Figure. 11 and Figure. 12 shows that optical media such as CD/DVDs are in frequent use in 50% to 58% district EMIS cells for data transmission to and from Provincial EMIS cell. Figures also shows that either the complete databases or the softcopy reports are sent to the Provincial EMIS Cell for compilation. Only 8% (1) district EMIS Cell use to send reports via email while 17% (2) district EMIS cells sent hard copy reports via transportation media to Provincial EMIS Cell. Besides sending compiled districts databases and reports in CD/DVDs, hard copy reports also sent to 42% districts for their use by the Provincial EMIS cell

Figure 11. Method by Which EMIS Data Transmitted to District for its Use

Figure 12. Method by Which District EMIS Send Data to Province for

Compilation

Fig. 13 shows that all the 12 districts requested / demanded training in Database Administration and Network administration while 2 (17%) out of 12 districts and 8 (67%) out of 12 districts also desired training in Basic computer and Hardware Maintenance.

Figure 13. Areas where additional Training is required

V. MAJOR CHALLENGES Education Management Information System is playing an

important role in planning, decision making and monitoring of the schools but there are considerable limitations and challenges across EMIS cells in terms of the use of IT technologies in education management and decision making.

A. Scalability, Security and Robustness of the Database System All the 24 districts are using access database which falls

into desktop category and work best for individuals & workgroups. It supports only megabytes of data and creates big problem to the administrators in system scalability if the data gets large. Access uses file server architecture rather than client server architecture so cannot be used to build stable and efficient system with many concurrent users if required. MS Access does not support atomic transactions and also do not guarantee about changes within a transaction boundary are committed or rolled back.

B. Database Security The risk of data security is very high in each DEMIS cell as

every individual computer is maintaining its own individual database. Analysis shows that the data is not secure from the virus attack; unauthorized personnel have access to data very easily and can change or alter the data because there is no secure password in 50% of the districts EMIS Cells computers. All districts EMIS Cells also reported that they have unlicensed versions of virus protection software available.

VI. MANUAL DATABASE INTEGRATION AND BACKUP Central Database is maintained at Provincial level which is

not electronically linked with database at each level. Databases are collected, processed and integrated (manually) in to the main database at the Provincial EMIS office which results an extra work load on the central EMIS staff. Each EMIS cells is using portable media like flash drives, CD/DVDs or external hard drives to have data back up and transmisson to the Provincial EMIS cell for processig and integration into the main database.

A. Lack of Information Sharing Information and data is not completely shared among all

the districts. Provincial EMIS cell distributes annual statistical reports to all districts as a major source of information sharing. Districts do not have direct links with each other for valuable information sharing. If a district wants information about the other district, the request is forwarded to the Provincial EMIS office where it is either fulfilled or denied if did not found in the central database.

B. Non Availability of adequate Information Annual Statistical Report developed and disseminated to all

the districts consists of limited information/data, based on the perceived demands of the users/stakeholders results non-availability and inadequacy of data / information for planning and decision making at all level.

C. Delay/Slow Data Dissemination Process Data is disseminated to all the districts in form of hard copy

Annual Statistical Reports via physical medium. This process takes a lot of time in distribution of reports to all the districts. Though report gets also available on the EMIS intranet but due to unavailability of internet the districts have no access to it. Integration and processing of data take far too long and as such delay the timely publishing of the annual report which results

in delay data dissemination. By the time many of documents are produced, the data is out of date and considered irrelevant.

D. Delays in Planning and Decision Making at District Level At National level, EMIS is playing significant role in

generating targets for policy framework and decision making but at decentralized level EMIS is not as good as at National level due to lack of capacity constraints and delay in transmission of desired data from PEMIS to DEMIS office. Sometime if one DEMIS cell need data of other district EMIS cell, the central EMIS office either fails to provide or it get delayed.

E. Internet Adoptability and Accessibility The use of internet as a method of communication has not

been widely adopted in most District EMIS cells. Majority of the Districts EMIS cells have internet availability and accessibility but only district Mansehra is using internet as a medium of communication to send reports via email to Provincial EMIS cell for compilation. While in only few districts, EMIS cell is lacking with internet availability and accessibility due to lack of infrastructure (telephone lines).

F. Additional Allocation of Budget for Accessories Internet is not widely adopted as a primary mode of

communication at all District EMIS cells. Most of the districts use Flash Drives, CD/DVDs and external hard drives for copying, back up and transmission of data to the Provincial EMIS cell for further compilation. Whereas some districts also use to generate hard copy reports to send to the Provincial EMIS office for compilation. All this requires additional budget allocation to buy CDs/DVDs, external hard drives and other related stationary for transmission of data to the Provincial EMIS office and vice versa.

VII. CONCLUSION The significance of this study was to put a sight on the

development of growth in information technology especially in the management of EMIS processes with the key factors (timely and reliable productivity of data, data integration & data sharing and efficient utilization of data) required for the successful development and working of Education Management Information System for efficient planning & decision making. Analysis reveals that present EMIS infrastructure lacks with information technology evolution in EMIS management activities as it was also hypothesized that the infrastructure of traditional and manual collection of data from the district EMIS offices and compilation & integration of data at the Provincial EMIS office is slow and mostly inaccurate.

VIII. LIMITATIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Time constraint and accessibility was the major barrier for

collecting data from the district EMIS cells and arrange discussions with Provincial EMIS staff because of their busy schedule. Inter-Office Communication System be established to electronically link all EMIS offices to perform all EMIS activities (include collection, compilation, integration and dissemination of data etc) across the internet for fast availability and usability of data for decision makers at all

levels. For functional EMIS, adequate computing environment be provided include proper network and computing infrastructure, sufficient capacity of servers, backups and security facilities along with appropriate and regular maintenance.

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