The Power of Data in Education Planning in Belize

With a continued commitment  to capacity-building, the Ministry of Education, Youth, Sports, and Culture (MoEYSC), Belize is ready to use OpenEMIS tools to monitor education policy. Recent OpenEMIS training has positioned the MoEYCS to generate indicators, create visualizations, disseminate and undertake analysis of the data collected through OpenEMIS.As technical partners, Community Systems Foundation and specifically, a team of local and international  OpenEMIS expertssupported national education officials with training on specific data production and analytical tools including OpenEMIS Dashboard, DataManager, and Integrator.

Now a broader and deeper set of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be more efficiently produced by key staff at the MoEYSC. With this data, Ministry planners have the power to analyze learning outcomes, better understand the needs of vulnerable students or the behavior and credentials of Belize’ best teachers.  The Ministry can create visualizations and dashboards using OpenEMIS tools to monitor real-time education data from the national to the school level. This will allow planners and school administrators to budget and assign resources appropriately.

With increased capacity to manage data and produce indicators at all governance levels, a major policy objective of the Belizean 2011-2016 Education Sector Strategy (EES) has been met. Now, specifically, members of the Policy, Planning, Research and Evaluation (PPRE) Unit, a representative from the District Education Office are able to meet the data demands of the sector.

The Deputy Chief Education Officer in the PPRE Unit of the Ministry of Education, Neulin Villanueva, recognizes this important achievement. Until now, education officials in Belize have not been able to access information “from the national to the student level.” Where there was once no capacity, she also noted that the Education Ministry in Belize is now able to see “which students are repeating grades, falling behind, [needing] additional assistance…and solve the situation in schools having high drop-out rates.”

With continued capacity development to manage and use education data, Ministry officials will be well placed to respond to the current and future challenges of the education sector with data driven decisions.