List and explain five (5) importance of Educational Management Information System.
1.1 Introduction.
EMIS provides administrators and managers with the information required to manage schools and organizations efficiently and effectively. EMIS are being used by school administrators and managers to support a range of administrative activities such as financial management, staff allocation, timetable, attendance monitoring, clocking in and out, reporting, assessment records and resources. MIS has managed to ease the task of administrators, teachers, staff and others through a multi-function platform (Syifa, 2019). Also according to the author, the school system management also manage school’s interaction with the pupils and parents. This makes the communication between the three parties effective. For effective administration of the school, Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) becomes imperative.
EMIS stores crucial learners’ data such as personal data, examination records and library details. It also keeps track of the day-to-day progress of learners which is eventually used to analyze and monitor the improvements or retrogression in pupils over time (Balram, 2018). Similarly, EMIS are helpful in managing overall functioning of the schools, that is making programmes more effective, making the teaching process and the changes in learning environment professional, enabling teachers to exchange their experiences in a more systematic way, working in teams, determining the needs of the learners (Gurr; Pegler cited in Gahlawat, 2014). Also, Gahlawat (2014) is of the view that EMIS helps in supporting the school managers and other staff in doing their duties, developing their performances, effectiveness and efficiencies. EMIS helps to track attendance and performance. More importantly, EMIS reduces the workload on teachers’ by providing quick access to data on any learner or a group of learners which can be drilled-down, filtered and arranged accordingly within a few clicks (Balram, 2018). Also, according to the author, EMIS ease tracking and analyzing resources distribution and expenditure. Additionally, the management can fully control which teacher and staff have access to what kind of data, looking the learners’ financial records from the other users and also the academic performance data of the learner can be hinder from the staff. Hence, Bellow are some of the importance of EMIS.
Importance of Educational Management information system (EMIS)
So many scholars have given different importance of EMIS, for instance (academia, 2021) gave the followings the major importance of educational management information system: Library management, Student-teacher collaboration and communication, Fee management, Examination management, Student management,
in the same vain (oxford home study based, 2021) mentioned the under listed as some of the importance of EMIS: Better Communication with Parents, Better Communication with Students, Management of Fee Collections, Enquiries and Admissions Management, Examination Management, Student Information Management, Attendance Management, Timetable Management and Payroll Management.
But for the purpose of this assignment we are going to use the position of (Jumare, 2016) who stated the followings as the importance of Educational Management Information System.
- Information Gathering and Collection:
- Information distribution and sharing:
- Information storage:
- Information Analysis and interpretation:
- It serves as link among educational stakeholders:
- Information Gathering and Collection:
According to him EMIS is important because as a system it allows for the collection of Data in almost every aspect of education and most times this data is what the management rely on to make decisions that would be beneficial to the school. According to (Jumare, 2016) the aspects of education includes Students’ enrollment, number of teachers, number of teachers, number of schools, number of chairs and tables, toilets, library, teachers’ qualification, teachers age bracket, teachers, students’ school attendance and dropout, are among the information that are of interest to educational management system. The information is usually consulted when major educational decision are to be taken.
- Information distribution and sharing:
The above information when collected are usually distributed to people, government agencies, and other appropriate authorities for onward usage. Before major decisions are taken on distribution of facilities, personnel, equipment, and other related things; it is this information collected that is consulted to aid the decision making process. (Jumare, 2016) noted that this information can be in form of hard copy or soft copy as the case may be. Though most of the times the data can be sent in both hard or soft copy. It is important to note that if this information is collected and it is not distributed its use cannot be maximized.
- Information storage:
Another major importance of Educational Management information system the safe storage of these educational data collected and distributed for future use. These properly saved data would in a major way assist manager in educational budgeting and forecast. Educational data for decades are most of the times being referred to when managers are taking major policy decisions. The stored data when referred to most of the times aid the distribution of educational resources. It is important for the information to be stored in both hard and soft copies using best ICT software and a robust filing system.
- Information Analysis and interpretation:
Another importance of Educational Management system is its ability to analyze the collected and stored information, as raw data does not normally makes sense. It is the analyzed data that is normally important for board meeting and other meetings geared towards the betterment of education sector. In most cases when the analyzed data shows that there is increase in enrolment of students it would give the management signal to increase class room capacities, teachers’ strength and makes them to increase other educational resources to match the increase in students enrolment.
- It serves as link among educational stakeholders:
Educational Management Information system links stakeholders through information sharing. It helps to create a platform for the interaction between parents, students, governmental agencies, educational non-governmental agencies, educational regulators, students and teachers as well as educational managers. This facilitates inclusive decision making, prompt dissemination of information, speedy action taking, prompt precautionary measures among other things; all geared towards achieving successful educational objectives.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, educational management information systems cycle must be completed for its usefulness to be visible. For instance, when the information is gathered or collected and dumped, it may not profit or even if it does it will profit a little also of the information is not collected or gathered it would not be discriminated for onward usage. Educational bodies and institution should make effective use of this system to achieve efficiency in administering education in any nation desirous of progress.
References:
Balram, K. (2018). Role of MIS in education sector. Retrieved from www.iitms.co.in on 20/02/20
Gahlawat, M. (2014). School management information systems: An effective tool for augmenting the school practices. New Frontiers in Education, 57-64.
https://www.academiaerp.com/blog/importance-of-education-management-information-system/ retrieved on 1st December, 2021
https://www.ingresqr.com/education-management-system-what-and-why/ retrieved on 1st December, 2021
https://www.oxfordhomestudy.com/OHSC-Blog/education-management-information-system-functions retrieved on 2st December, 2021
Jumare A. M (2016) Introduction to issues in educational management in Nigeria; Amadu Bello Zaria printing press
Syifa, F. (2019). Reasons why school management system is important. Retrieved from www.uk essays.com/essays/education on 21/02/2020.
