Kampala, Uganda – The government, under the Ministry of Education, has worked to improve the abilities of local government teams struggling with the newly upgraded Education Management Information System (EMIS). This system helps keep track of students and makes it easier for decision-makers in the education sector.
According to a statement from the Ministry of Education, signed by Permanent Secretary Ms. Ketty Lamaro, training sessions were conducted for eight participants from each district and five from each municipality and city. These participants included district education officers, school inspectors, planners, heads of educational institutions, and education officers.
Mr. Robert Bellarmine Okudi, the commissioner for education planning at the Education ministry, explained that they recently transformed EMIS into a comprehensive center for reliable and timely data and management information in education and sports. The government intends to expand the system’s use and emphasizes the need to equip officers with the knowledge and skills for efficient system management.
Mr. Dennis Mugimba, the Education ministry spokesperson, highlighted the timeliness of this training, as some officers were still grappling with the system. He mentioned that schools often sought assistance with uploading information onto the system, faced challenges with internet connectivity, and sometimes uploaded incomplete information. These core teams in local governments are responsible for updating learner profiles, information about parents, academic progress, and tracking learners’ movements between schools.
About EMIS:
The Education Management Information System (EMIS) is a new government system designed to manage information about learners from primary to university levels. It includes a web portal that educational institutions use to create their EMIS user accounts and update learner information. EMIS also tracks learner transfers between schools, enrollment, and attendance. The system aims to handle records for 15 million learners in over 48,000 educational institutions across the country. As of now, about 11.5 million learner records have been uploaded to the system, according to the Ministry of Education.