2017 ICT4D Conference

The Individual paper/poster presentation will on e-Monitoring System specifically designed for the use by school monitors to improve the accountability and governance of government primary school system. To strengthen the government school monitoring system of Bangladesh, the Sponsorship program of Bangladesh Save the Children created an android enabled school monitoring application based on the existing paper based school monitoring checklist and also developed a browser based school inspection data analysis dashboard with various analytical interactive reports. In collaboration with the Directorate of Primary Education (DPE), since 2015, the program has been piloting the e-monitoring system in 5 upazillas (sub-districts) of 3 districts with the Upazilla Education Officers (UEOs). The Assistant Upazilla Education Officers (AUEOs) of the pilot areas received tablets with the e-monitoring application installed and were trained on how to use the e-monitoring application for school monitoring. Grameenphone, a national telecommunications provider, under a MoU with Save the Children, supplied the tablets and internet connectivity for the pilot project. The operational management of the pilot program was made by the M & E sections of DPE. The mid-term progress review (November 2105) and the end-line pilot program evaluation (October 2016) reports identified that the e-Monitoring school system has been successful in creating a change in the government school monitoring system. The introduced digital school monitoring system is not simply a piece of technology that enables access to data. It is a mechanism that provides education officers from the local- to national-level with a potentially efficient, effective and transparent tool to improve the quality of education. The various stakeholders of the government primary system have got immediate access to information once data is uploaded in the server. It enables them the opportunity to analyze the robust data and take instant decision where necessary.