JOINT PRESS RELEASE

30 Jun 2014

JOINT PRESS RELEASE

Are all children in Libya in school and receive quality education? The Ministry of Education, UNICEF and the European Union develop an effective Education Management Information System (EMIS)

Tripoli, Libya: 30 June 2014 – UNICEF, with funding from the European Union (EU) supports the Ministry of Education in developing an Education Management Information System (EMIS) that will make it possible for Libya to have regularly updated information on the country’s education system.

The EMIS will be an excellent tool to monitor effectiveness and efficiency of the Libyan education at Kindergarten, primary and secondary education levels; and it will strengthen data collection, analysis, use and dissemination. Education planners, administrators, as well as policy makers will be able to form their decisions based on reliable data and evidence.

UNICEF’s Country Director a.i., Dr. Katharina Imhof said that detailed information on access to and quality of education is needed to develop effective education strategies, programmes and policies, cost them, and evaluate their benefits for children and their families. “Accurate and timely data is required for constantly improving the education system, towards the highest levels of quality and tailored for the benefits of all children and their families in Libya. UNICEF, with its extensive experience in developing EMISs, presently supports the country in this quest,” said the UNICEF Country Director a.i.

The Head of the European Union (EU) Delegation to Libya, Ms. Apostolova added, “Without good data the decisions made by education policy leaders can never be as effective and efficient as they need to be to meet the needs and requirements of their learners and education institutions. The EMIS is not only about technology and software. It is also about processes and the culture that binds managers and planners together in the use of information for effective delivery of education at all levels. There are so many varied uses of EMIS information, from setting and monitoring quantifiable targets, to realistically estimating the resources required for implementing plans and policies. This support meets EU objectives to have an informed policy making process based on quality data.”

“The development of a functional EMIS is a primary step for educational planning, though it is late, nevertheless, it came at the right time and in conjunction with several projects in the education sector” said Dr. Abdullatif Latif, Director of the Information and Documentation Department at the Ministry of Education. He added that these efforts also contribute to building the capacity of the Centre for Information and Documentation Personnel.

Progress in implementation has led to the completion of the situational analysis of the present organizational and technical capacity in the MoE and was followed by finalizing a 3-5 year EMIS development plan and implementation of phase one of the EMIS roadmap “Base EMIS Development”. Phase one of the EMIS roadmap “Base EMIS Development” included capacity-building component for the Center of Information and Documentation staff on reviewing the census forms/questionnaires and discussing data collection related issues prior to piloting of data collection in 10 educational institutions. The piloting aimed to test the census forms before converging them electronically.

The comprehensive system for improved education administration and planning is expected to be fully established and functional, by information (indicators and data) that accurately describes the Libyan education system at the national, sub-national and school level, by end of September 2014.

For more information please contact:
Nasser Kaddoura UNICEF Libya (nkaddoura@unicef.org) Tel: +218 918807343

About UNICEF
UNICEF promotes the rights and wellbeing of every child, in everything we do. Together with our partners, we work in 190 countries and territories to translate that commitment into practical action, focusing special effort on reaching the most vulnerable and excluded children, to the benefit of all children, everywhere.