Establishment of EMIS Infrastructure in Public Secondary Schools in Rarieda Sub-County, Kenya

Abstract

Educational planning and development has been influenced by the social-economic and political needs of the society since time immemorial. One of the greatest educational challenges in developing countries is to maximize learning in educational systems based on available and reliable data since they have limited resources. Data in this study were collected through primary sources which included questionnaires to 28 and 112 Principals and HoDs respectively who were purposively sampled from 28 public secondary schools in Rarieda Sub-County, Kenya. In addition, the Sub-County Education Officer, 3 Sub-County Quality Assurance Officers and 4 Teachers Service Commission (TSC) officers at the sub-county were subjected to interview schedules. Reliability of the instruments was tested using test-retest method while expert judgments were used to determine their validity. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics with the aid of Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The data were summarized in tables and percentages to present analysed data. The study findings indicated that: the extent of computer literacy among secondary school teachers, presence of computers and other ICT gadgets, Master database in schools, remote access to database and information were below average. In addition, it was established that data storage for students and other resources were rated at 51-100%. However, the mode of storage was manual. This study recommends that schools should promote computer literacy among teachers through trainings and seminars and recognition of the resultant certificates to step up the practice of EMIS at all management levels such as data collection, processing and storage. Dissemination should be computerised to enhance linkage and accessibility to data remotely.