School census affects planning
Sep 28, 2009
THE annual school census conducted by the education ministry has been of limited use in planning and quality assurance decisions at district, sub-county and school levels, the Netherlands Development Organisation has said.
By Frank Mugabi
THE annual school census conducted by the education ministry has been of limited use in planning and quality assurance decisions at district, sub-county and school levels, the Netherlands Development Organisation has said.
The West Nile coordinator, Bert Blokland, said the ministry has been slow in distributing census findings, sometimes taking up to a year.
“As a result, local leaders and other stakeholders lack the benefits of accurate, relevant and timely data,†Blokland noted.
Blokland made the remarks on Friday at the organisation’s offices in Arua during the donation of two computers to Arua and Nebbi districts.
The computers will be used to store information on schools.
He said the computers had been donated under a pilot programme to gauge how feasible districts would establish functional data management systems to improve the quality of primary education.
The education ministry annually gathers data on the state of schools.
The data entry and analysis is done in Kampala and thereafter the findings are submitted to local authorities.
Blokland noted that with about 80 districts and 15,000 schools, the process was time-consuming.
The organisation also trained data entry clerks and inspectors of schools from each district in the decentralised education management information system.
THE annual school census conducted by the education ministry has been of limited use in planning and quality assurance decisions at district, sub-county and school levels, the Netherlands Development Organisation has said.
The West Nile coordinator, Bert Blokland, said the ministry has been slow in distributing census findings, sometimes taking up to a year.
“As a result, local leaders and other stakeholders lack the benefits of accurate, relevant and timely data,†Blokland noted.
Blokland made the remarks on Friday at the organisation’s offices in Arua during the donation of two computers to Arua and Nebbi districts.
The computers will be used to store information on schools.
He said the computers had been donated under a pilot programme to gauge how feasible districts would establish functional data management systems to improve the quality of primary education.
The education ministry annually gathers data on the state of schools.
The data entry and analysis is done in Kampala and thereafter the findings are submitted to local authorities.
Blokland noted that with about 80 districts and 15,000 schools, the process was time-consuming.
The organisation also trained data entry clerks and inspectors of schools from each district in the decentralised education management information system.