Primary Education Survey Evaluation Report Somalia - Somali - JNA

PES Evaluation Report, 2008
5 Data Duplication
5.1 Findings and Analysis
In the effectiveness section of this evaluation report the view is expressed that an EMIS unit should be
established that has the vision of being a service unit for other directorates within the ministry and other
stakeholders that support the education of children. This provision of data and the associated reports need
to be provided on a timely basis. A result of not providing reports on a timely basis is the duplication of
the data collection process. If data collection needs are not well coordinated, parallel systems are at times
set up to gather additional data.
Evidence was found of quite extensive data collection and data entry that is not part of the PES process.
Some examples are listed below.
In one zone UNICEF entered a subset of PES data into an excel spreadsheet due the tardiness of the PES
report being provided. The data entered allowed them to assess progress and distribute resources on an
equitable basis.
In another Zone REOs reported that they all had their own data collection systems. One set of documents
provided indicated that School enrolment by grade/gender/district/school, drop outs, school furniture and
equipment health hazards, general condition of school, number of text book per student, extra curricular
activities and other data are systematically collected. Some of this is collated into a regional report. While
all REOs indicated they collect data independently of PES it is not clear just how extensive each set of
data is.
In Puntland the curriculum division collects reports on a monthly basis from rural schools and conducts
some analysis of the data. Mentors are used as collection agents. These include student enrolment figures
and observations of the mentoring process. Some may have reservations with regard to this process as
mentors are intended to have a professional development role, rather than an enumerator role. If such a
process were to continue, it would have to be made explicit how the data collected related to their
professional development function
In this same zone a set of data for Grade 8 examination results is collected and collated. This data
consisted of full details (including date of birth) of every student undertaking the examination. To this
data base the exam results are added when available. This is an example of data being required to
supplement that of the PES. The PES does not gather student names and details as records. As EMIS units
develop it will be necessary to integrate these functions into its annual work plan.
Much of the content of this section supports the observations and recommendations made in the previous
section on the timeliness of the PES and indicates how the current structure and operational mechanisms
are resulting in duplication of effort and a resulting wasting of resources.
However, there are some positive aspects to these observations. There is an indication of capacity to
communicate with schools and to transfer forms within a rudimentary monitoring system emerging.
There is also an indication of an emerging understanding of the important role of data in planning and an
emergent capacity to process and analyse data. These efforts need to be recognised and encouraged to
facilitate the growth of formal quality assurance procedures to replace the relatively ad hoc systems
currently being used.
5.2 Recommendation
a. That careful planning take place to provide data on a timely basis for the variety of MoE
directorates and stakeholders
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