Honiara School Leaders are undergoing a four-day training on Solomon Islands Education Management Information System (SIEMIS) at the St Barnabas Cathedral Leaf hut.

The training commenced on 10th June and will conclude on 14th June with an expectation for Honiara school leaders to understand their responsibility for the provision of accurate data and information required by the new Education Act 2023.

Organised by the Information System Division within the Ministry of Education Human Resources Development (MEHRD), the training is to socialise the Education Act 2023 on the need to provide accurate information, improve data inputs in SIEMIS, familiarise school leaders with the annual survey form and introduce the student transfer card.

The discussions focus on the responsibility of school leaders and the kind of information or data required to keep at the school level and report back to the ministry.

During the four days’ training, the school leaders will be introduced with practical knowledge of how to use the SIEMIS for data entry. For example, student correct names must be entered into the database. School leaders will also be introduced to student transfer cards. This is to manage the movement of students between schools so that their profiles are recorded and transferred to the schools they may transfer to.

At the opening of the training, Deputy Secretary Coldrine Kolae who supervises the Information Services Division of the Ministry emphasised the importance of using accurate data in decision-making and policy formulation.

He said data is not only important for recording purposes but also important in the context of education, for the whole universal education.

He said if school leaders provide inaccurate data it will affect the allocation of resources such as grants, teaching and learning materials the ministry provides to schools.

Presenting on the first day of training are Education Legislative Core Team led by Advisor Joash Maneipuri and Manager Policy Strategic Support Division Christina Bakolo.

In their presentation, they provided an overview of the Education Act 2023 and its subsidiary documents with the aim to help the school leaders understand their responsibilities under the new education law.

The training continues with discussions on the importance of data collection, navigating the system, updating contact details in the system, promoting and repeating of students in the system, introducing the transfer card and updating the boarding status for each student.

Upon completion of the training, the school leaders should be able to understand their responsibilities required by the new Education Act 2023 and be able to manage and input accurate data and to make informed decisions on key aspects of the school system. As a legal requirement, school leaders must complete and submit school data or information by March 31st each year, leaving no room for delay.

Part of the Honiara school leaders during the training.

Deputy Secretary Cooperate Services Coldrine Kolae addressing the Honiara school leaders.

ELF Advisor and ELF Core Team member Joash Maneipuri presenting an overview of the Education Act 2023.

 MEHRD Press