Education Management Information System and Tracking of Students’ Records in Selected Public Secondary Schools in Turbo Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

This study sought to assess the role of the education management information system in the tracking of students’ records in selected public secondary schools in Turbo sub-County, Kenya. In most secondary schools that are public in Kenya the tracking of students’ records has been a challenge. EMIS has ensured that all the information about the school and the students is well recorded and kept so that it can be accessible to all at any given time. The study was guided by the research question: How does the Education Management Information System help in the tracking of students’ records in selected secondary schools? The cross-sectional survey design was used in the study. The researcher used a simple random sampling technique and proportion stratified random sampling technique to select a total of 594 participants for the study. The data collection instruments were structured questionnaires and interview schedules. The subject matter experts reviewed face and content validity. The split-half reliability formula was used and a coefficient of 0.9 was obtained which suggests that the items had relatively high internal consistency. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution and percentages were used to summarize the data. The findings revealed that students were classified according to streams, admission numbers, performance in the Kenya Certificate of Primary Education and gender during the admission day. The students received end-of-term results in different ways which included manually, Zeraki, Short Message Services and WhatsApp. The findings revealed that EMIS was used to track records and send the academic results of the learners to their parents. It was therefore concluded that the schools use different ways to track and classify the students regarding their data in EMIS. The outcome of the examinations of the learners is given through the progress reports in EMIS. The study recommended that the principals should track and classify the new form one students according to the time and date that they report to the secondary schools. This will guarantee that the student's information is captured accordingly to enhance an accurate collection of the learners’ details. This will in turn facilitate the easy identification of students who require special needs. The students’ results should be electronically sent directly to their parents and guardians while the students given their feedback manually. Keywords: Education Management Information System, Management, Records, Tracking. DOI: 10.7176/JEP/13-17-06 Publication date: June 30 th 2022