Equipment Diagnostic Report Form

Educational Statistics Capacity-Building Programme to Support the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam Diagnostic Report May 2005 Jointly prepared by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the National Technical Committee on Educational Statistics Capacity-Building Funded by the European Commission ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This report was prepared by the National Technical Committee (NTC) in collaboration with the UNESCO Institute for Statistics, and supported by the European Union-funded project on “Developing National Statistical-Capacity Building for the Monitoring of Education for All”. Various ministries, departments and institutions at central, provincial and local levels have provided useful insight and related facts for the preparation of this report. Without their help, as well as input from a number of individuals and organizations, it would not have been possible to produce this work. Particular mentioned should be made of the assistance received from Planning and Finance Department (MOET), Provincial Education Authorities, GSO and UNESCO Hanoi office, all of which provided important contribution and support. Chair of the National Technical Committee iii PREFACE Nowadays, the demand for high quality and timely statistical data about education systems has risen remarkably at both the national and international levels. Policy makers increasingly require a range of indicators – access to participation to outcomes – for better evidence-based planning and for measuring the progress. In this context, improving the quality and availability of education statistics is one area to which the Government of Viet Nam is paying much attention these days. Furthermore, the recent education reform process requires skills and capacities in EMIS at the local level. Fortunately, there are a number of efforts underway in Viet Nam to further improve the quality and availability of education statistics. Having reliable data mostly depends on having a good data collection system, as well as appropriate data dissemination. Like many other developing countries, Viet Nam is also facing various issues and problems in education statistics. It is important to know the root causes of these challenges so as to systematically resolve and overcome such obstacles. In this regard, MOET has set up with technical support from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics a national committee to analyze holistically and comprehensively the situation of collection, processing, dissemination and utilization of education statistics. This report is a result of the committee’s collective efforts. It is hoped that this document, which contains a wealth of insights and information, will be useful in the preparation of a realistic and well-conceived statistical capacity-building action plan for education statistics. The implementation of such a plan would lead to better coverage, timeliness and qualtity statiststics for planners and decision-makers at the national level, as well as for the international community, to monitor progress towards both EFA and MDG goals. Comments and suggestions about the findings are welcome, and we look forward to building upon them. Through strengthened cooperation with national and international partners, we are confident that the very important tasks of formulating and implementing activities that will strengthen our national capacity on education statistics can be successfully achieve. iv CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................ 1 2. UIS APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY to STATISTICAL CAPACITY-BUILDING .......... 2 3. ORGANISATION OF THE EMIS EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM................. 5 3.1 Overview of Education Services Administration ................................................................................... 6 3.2 Evolution and Development of EMIS in Viet Nam................................................................................ 8 4. DIAGNOSIS ON INSTITUTIONAL AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT FOR PRODUCING EDUCATION STATISTICS...................................................................................... 9 4.1 Review of Organizational Structure and Responsibilities of the Education Statistics Services............. 9 4.2 Resource Assessment........................................................................................................................... 15 4.2.1 Human resources, skill and knowledge ................................................................................ 15 4.2.2 Technical Infrastructure and Equipment............................................................................... 17 4.2.3 Financial resource for statistical services ............................................................................. 19 5. DIAGNOSIS ON COLLECTION, PROCESSING AND USE OF EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS...................................................................................................................................... 19 5.2 Analysis of Data Collection Instruments and Data Entry Software ..................................................... 21 5.2.1 Review of the data collection instruments ............................................................................ 21 5.2.2 Review of the computer applications for data processing .................................................... 25 5.3 Analysis on Production and Use of Data and Indicators ...................................................................... 27 5.4 Analysis of Data Quality using DQAF (Data Quality Assessment Framework).................................. 32 6. MAJOR FINDINGS OF DIAGNOSTIC STUDY AND RECOMMENDATIONS...................... 37 7. ANNEXES v ACRONYMS DEO District Education Officer EC European Commission EFA Education for All EMIC Education Management Information Centre EMIS Education Management Information System ESP Education Sector Programme EU European Union FTI Fast Track Initiatives GIS Geographical Information System GSO General Statistical Office HCM Ho-Chih Minh City Municipality ICT Information and Communication Technology IMF International Monetary Fund ISCED International Standard Classification for Education MDG Millennium Development Goals MOET Ministry of Education and Training MOLISA Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs OLAP On-line Analytical Processing PRSP Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme SMOET Support for Ministry of Education and Training UNESCO United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund WB The World Bank Introduction Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -1-1. INTRODUCTION 1. Informed decision-making at all stages of sound policy management – formulation, planning, implementation, operation, monitoring and evaluation – require reliable and timely data. Enabled by ICT’s rapid advances in terms of application areas, user friendliness and affordability, the increasing use of indicators and statistical decisionsupppor systems has made quality and timely data on education ever more imperative. Both at the national and international levels, this demand has been driven by the need to develop national Education Sector Programmes (ESP), as well as to monitor the progress towards Education for All (EFA) goals, education targets at the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Poverty Reduction Strategy Programmes (PRSP), and other related developmental programmes. 2. In this context, statistical units in the Ministry of Education, as well as other Ministries and institutions that provide education-related data, play an important role. Strengthened national capacity is, thus, essential in order to respond to the demand of today’s dynamic society. 3. To realize all these needs, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has been implementing the project, “Developing National Statistical Capabilities for the Monitoring of Education for All,” funded by the European Commission (EC). In this project, the UIS coordinates with the countries to build sustainable national capacities for the monitoring of progress towards EFA and national education sector goals. Viet Nam is one of the participating countries in this project. 4. As part of the project, the initial phase of the work includes an in-depth diagnosis of the production and use of education statistics in relation to managing the education systems and monitoring progress towards national and international education goals. It will assess the strengths and weaknesses of the system and identify priority areas that need strengthening. During the diagnostic study, all dimensions of capacity needs will be reviewed, after which a diagnostic report will be presented. 5. This current report is jointly prepared by the UNESCO Institute for Statistics and the National Technical Committee, Ministry of Education and Training (MOET), Viet Nam. UIS Approach and Methodology to Statistical Capacity-Building Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -2-2. UIS APPROACH AND METHODOLOGY TO STATISTICAL CAPACITYBUILLDIN 6. It is a recognized fact that measures to improve the capacities of existing education statistical services need to be country-specific. Even within a country, degree of development and resources available for producing education statistics may differ across various education levels and among concerned departments and ministries. Therefore, a system-wide diagnostic is an essential part of the national capacity-building process in order to identify capacity gaps and develop appropriate activities and actions to fill them. The project approach includes: • setting up of a National Technical Committee which manages the project. The main responsibility of the committee is to facilitate and ensure the smooth and successful implementation of the sector-wide capacity building activities; • carrying out of a full diagnostic study of the production and use of education statistics in order to : (i) identify the areas that need strengthening, and (ii) develop a national action plan on and around existing capacity and the efforts to be pursued; • implementation of the action plan, in collaboration and partnership with in-country developmental agencies and other stakeholders who play a critical role in building national capacities. 7. The crucial point for the successful implementation of the project is to attain the necessary political support and commitment from the country. This requires setting up a national body composed of members from various central and provincial EMIS officials, as well as other producers and users of education statistics. During the first UIS mission from 15-23 October 2003, the mission team discussed with concerned national authorities the establishment, composition and terms of reference of the national technical committee. However, due to the Ministry’s reorganization, the follow-up activities were delayed. To re-activate the project, a second mission was undertaken from 13-17 June 2004 to meet with concerned ministerial officials. As a result, the Vietnamese Government established a national technical committee and signed a letter of intent with UNESCO to implement the project and conduct the necessary preparatory work for the UIS technical team to conduct a diagnostic mission. (See Annex II for the members of the National Technical Committee.) 8. The next step was the diagnostic study. The study was carried out from 12-24 October 2004. In order to have a comprehensive understanding of the collection, processing and UIS Approach and Methodology to Statistical Capacity-Building Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -3-use of education statistics, the mission team carried out more than 40 visits, meetings and interviews during the mission. These included: • meetings with a national technical committee • field trips (Hanoi, Thai Nguyen, Khanh Hoa, Ho Chi Minh provinces) • meetings with provincial and district education and local administrative authorities • visits to pre-primary, primary, secondary (lower, upper, and professional) schools, technical schools, non-public schools and non-formal education centres • meeting with concerned officials (the Social and Environmental Section) from the General Statistical Office of Viet Nam • meetings with the UNESCO Country Director and education programme officers • meeting with resident EU officials • meeting with SMOET project officials 9. A diagnostic is conducted through a series of individual or group interviews and a questionnaire in order to draw up a comprehensive and balanced view of the actual capacity gaps at each particular intra-sectoral level of the education sector. Particular attention is given to the following areas: • institutional mandates and resource availability of statistical units at different levels (central, provincial and district.) • conduciveness of environment to evidence-based decision-making • data quality assurance (error-tracking or consistency checking mechanisms) • methodology for treatment of missing data • record keeping practices at the institutional (school) level • effectiveness, user-friendliness and comprehensiveness of instruments for data collection relative to need for information • mechanisms or procedures along the data collection chain • data processing technology and methodology • data dissemination modes • data use, analysis and interpretation for planning and decision-making • feedback to data providers • revision policy, user consultation mechanism and new data/indicators development policy • metadata and user assistance policy 10. Since inter-relation among different sub-sectors within the whole education sector is critical for building successful and sustainable national capacities, an appropriate actionUIS Approach and Methodology to Statistical Capacity-Building Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -4-plan is required to address the issues of all sub-sectors in an integrated way. This will be based on the findings from the diagnostic study, as well as on recommendations made by the National Technical Committee. However, project intervention should be emphasized in the sub-sectors of EFA and MDG-related education goals. 11. One key element of the UIS approach is to initiate and maintain close collaboration with local developmental agencies and partners that are active in the education sector (especially in education statistics) so as to harmonize with existing country programmes and exploit local resources/expertise to produce a synergetic effect. The main advantage of the UIS involvement in the country is that its interventions and approaches to address the issues are guided by best practices, lessons learned and cost-efficient, and sustainable solutions from similar experiences acquired globally. Organisation of the System of Education and Development on EMIS Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -5-3. ORGANISATION OF THE EMIS EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT SYSTEM 12. Viet Nam has three main levels of education (primary, secondary and tertiary) in the formal education system. Although the government recommends that children start prepriimar school at age 5, i.e. Mau Giao (kindergarten), its compulsory education extends from age 6 (Grade 1) to 10 (Grade 5), which is the official ending age of the primary level. The next stage is a four-year middle school (or lower secondary) that comprises Grades 6-9. Then, intermediate education (or upper secondary) includes Grades 10-12. 13. Tertiary education takes three years or more. There are also vocational and technical education programmes of various durations that can begin after lower secondary and upper secondary education. Moreover, non-formal education programmes, such as literacy, post-literacy, non-formal primary education and non-formal lower secondary education programmes, are organized throughout the country. 14. In this regard, the structure of the education system can be illustrated as one year of prepriimar education, five years of primary education, seven years of secondary education (four years of lower secondary and three years of upper secondary), and three years or more of tertiary education, as well as under one-year to three-year vocational and technical education programmes. See the structure of Viet Nam’s education system below. Organisation of the System of Education and Development on EMIS Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -6-3.1 Overview of Education Services Administration Ministry of Education and Training (MOET) 15. The Ministry of Education and Training oversees and governs all education activities in Viet Nam. It has overall responsibility for the formulation of education policy, planning, and development of curriculum. The main functions of the Ministry include policy formulation, implementation, and evaluation of national education plans, as well as the initiation of legislation relating to education and training. It is also responsible for providing policy guidelines to local levels. Under the Ministry, different departments manage and administer different education sectors. These are: • Early Childhood (Pre-school) Education Department • Primary Education Department • Secondary Education Department • Higher Education Department • Professional (Technical and Vocational) Education Department • Continuing Education Department 16. In addition, the following departments of the MOET perform specific functions assigned to them: • Office of Administration Organisation of the System of Education and Development on EMIS Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -7-• Planning and Finance Department • International Cooperation Department 17. However, delivery and implementation of education falls under the responsibility of provincial and district level authorities. As part of the country’s decentralization mechanism, administration and management of schools and institutions are the responsibilities of local education authorities. These education authorities at different administrative levels are as follows: Department of Education and Training (DOET) 18. The DOET is the education authority at the provincial level, and its main roles include coordination and support of education services implementation at the district level. Furthermore, the upper secondary education, professional (technical and vocation) education and tertiary education are generally under the direct responsibility of the respective provincial education authorities. Provincial education departments are headed by Provincial Education Directors. Administratively, provinces are further divided into districts. Bureau of Education and Training (BOET) 19. Generally, district level education offices oversee and monitor the schools at preprimmary primary and lower secondary levels. In the primary classes, performance assessments to promote pupils to the next grades are conducted by the respective schools. However, at the end of the fifth year of the primary stage, the education department holds a public examination for promotion to the middle school level (lower secondary). However, the government is planning not to conduct such examinations for Grade 5 in the future. The examinations in middle school grades are held by the individual schools, until another public examination at the end of Grade 9 is conducted by the Bureau of Education and Training. To complete the general education, a public national examination is again held at the end of Grade 12. This process aims to assure the quality of education, certify graduation and serve as a prerequisite for student registration/participation in the national entrance exams into vocational, professional and tertiary educational institutions. 20. Furthermore, a number of autonomous bodies with special missions have become involved in the various parts of Viet Nam’s educational development, such as the Informatics Center, IESP-Institute for Education Strategies and Programmes. Organisation of the System of Education and Development on EMIS Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -8-21. Some types of vocational schools are under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). 3.2 Evolution and Development of EMIS in Viet Nam 22. Before 1991, the EMIS was under the responsibility of the Department of Planning and Finance to gather and disseminate the statistics of all educational institutions – from preschhool to universities, as well as vocational schools. At that time, it was intended to serve the Ministry in its management and monitoring functions. Data processing and compilation were done manually. 23. In 1992, the Ministry of Education and Training set up a new centre, the Educational Management Information Centre (EMIC), under the Office of Administration in order to develop a comprehensive education management information system (EMIS) to furnish educational information at all levels. In the 1998-1999 school year, the centre ceased its collection of vocational system statistics and transferred this task to the General Department for Vocational Training, Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs (MOLISA). 24. In line with the Government’s Decree No 85/2003/ND-CP dated 18 July 2003 regarding redefining the functions, tasks, responsibilities and organizational structure of the Ministry of Education and Training, the Minster signed Decision No 4778/QDBGGDDT-TCCB to restructure the ministry’s organizational setup to reflect the current needs and to strengthen the management task at all levels. In the Decision, the Minister delegated the Department of Planning and Finance to carry out the work of “gathering, processing and analyzing education-related data; producing/disseminating information to support education and training development plans and implementation; and forecasting education and training development.” 25. Concurrently, the EC-funded “Support to Ministry of Education and Training (SMOET)” project assisted the Planning and Finance Departments of provincial education offices to establish a provincial EMIS to enhance decentralization and strengthen the decisionmakkin process at the local level. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -9-4. DIAGNOSIS ON INSTITUTIONAL AND INFRASTRUCTURE SUPPORT FOR PRODUCING EDUCATION STATISTICS 4.1 Review of Organizational Structure and Responsibilities of the Education Statistics Services 26. Administratively, the Viet Nam education system is divided into four levels – the central, regional (province), district and institutional (school) levels. Flow of data and information proceed through these levels, especially at the basic education sub-sector. Although initiatives to decentralize the process have already started, most of the EMIS activities -especially production and dissemination of statistics -are undertaken at the central level. However, after reform of Doi-Moi, provincial-level education authorities are becoming more assertive and involved in the management and implementation of education services in their respective areas. This change of management and responsibilities also greatly affects the nature of collection, processing and, more importantly, utilization of education statistics. 27. For production of education statistics at the national level, first provincial EMIS units gather the data and produce the provincial summaries of their provinces. Then national figures are compiled from all these provincial outputs. The following section will present more details on institutional responsibilities and infrastructure support to produce education statistics at all levels. Central Level 28. At the central level, the Planning and Finance Unit, MOET is responsible for collection, compilation, production and dissemination of education data for the entire education sector, which includes schools (pre-school to secondary level) in 64 provinces, 265 universities and colleges, and 286 professional schools. Its operations include: • preparation of questionnaires for the school census • training of provincial and district staff on school census forms • distribution of school census forms to the provinces • consolidation of sub-national (provincial) data to produce the national school census database • maintenance of the annual school census databases Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -10-• production and publication of the Annual Yearbook • information sharing with the General Statistics Office • follow-up to ad-hoc user requests for education statistics 29. It compiles statistics from all provinces and produces various statistical publications, as well as provides information requested by national and international authorities and agencies. 30. Although there is a mandate to perform the functions, the department has not been given full and clear responsibility for the ownership and maintenance of the EMIS system. Currently, there is no systematic computerized EMIS system at the central level. 31. For the other education sub-sectors (tertiary, vocational and technical, and non-formal), all the statistical functions and activities (processing and producing of reports) are mainly carried out at the central level. The concerned departments at the central level have direct contact with the individual institutions to collect data. The following table summarizes the data coverage of different departments by level of education classified by the ISCED: Department of Education level Planning and Finance Continuing Education Pre-primary education X Primary education (first stage of basic education) X Lower secondary (second stage of basic education) X Upper secondary education X Professional (vocational and technical) education X Tertiary education X Non-formal education X Provincial Level 32. Like the central level, a provincial Planning and Finance department administers EMIS activities in every province. For the annual school census activity, the role of regional level education authorities is mainly to follow up the requests made by the central level. This administrative level is involved in the management of the statistical chain by: • distribution of questionnaires for the school census • training of district and sub-district staff on school census forms Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -11-• final validation and consolidation of district level summary data to produce the provincial school census database • provision of the provincial and district summary statistics to the central level • follow-up response to ad-hoc users requests for education statistics 33. In compliance with the EU-funded SMOET project, some provincial offices are establishing a provincial EMIS database. However, it is only on a trial basis, and not fully functioning yet in most provinces. The regional education offices also gather data from both district and school levels for their own use. Although some of the data might have been already included in the annual school census forms, due to lack of effective processing and dissemination mechanism, local authorities like provincial and district offices are unable to fully and effectively utilize the information from these school census forms. District Level 34. The task of the District Education Planning and Finance Units is mainly to collect and compile data from schools and forward it to the provincial Planning and Financial Department. These days, most of the district level Planning and Finance Units have a data processing facility. 35. As a result of education reform on decentralization, prominence has been given to the development or improvement of EMIS at the district level. Since the entire approach to education development has been changed, the role of district offices has been changed accordingly. Nowadays, it is not just forwarding the data to the provincial level, the district level EMIS personnel are also required to provide and facilitate the district education office in the formulation and processing of education plans and activities. Taking into account new roles and tasks under the devolution process, the key activities of the district EMIS cells include: • distribution and collection of annual school census forms • orientation and explanation of school census forms to the sub-district and school principals • follow-up and validation of completed school census forms • data entry and processing of school census forms to update the district level database • forwarding and transmitting district level statistics to the provincial EMIS unit Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -12-• providing required data and information (ad-hoc and regular basis) to the district education offices and other relevant offices at the district level • assisting and organizing EMIS-related training activities 36. In addition, these district EMIS cells are normally the ones which provide computerrellate services to the district education officers such as producing reports, preparing office communications, and providing IT-related technical service to other education officers. 37. The new education policy encourages management and decision-making at the local level and improved education delivery services at the grassroots level. Both provincial and district offices are now required to develop and monitor annual development plans, as well as prepare education budget and expenditure for their respective areas. As a result of the education reform process on decentralization, the central role of these offices is becoming important to the provision and management of education services in their respective areas. They are now required to be capable of producing reliable data and indicators that are policy-relevant, accurate and timely to support policy formulation and planning, decision-making, monitoring, and management. Furthermore, it is apparent that for efficient delivery and management of education services in the districts, the district education offices require strong and comprehensive education databases. Institutional (School) Level 38. It is mandatory for schools to submit annual school census forms. They are required to provide not only school statistics, but also financial information to the district education offices. In addition, upon request, the schools are required to provide requested data to various authorities. However, enforcement and seriousness to comply with this mandatory task varies among districts. 39. See the table below for the roles and responsibilities of the different administrative levels involved in school census activities. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -13-CENTRAL PROVINCIAL DISTRICT Data collection Data validation Data summary Statistical publication and reports Data analysis Data collection Data validation Data summary Statistical publication and reports Data analysis Data collection Data validation Data summary Statistical publication and reports Data analysis Preschool X X X X X X X X Primary X X X X X X X X Lower Secondary X X X X X X X X Upper Secondary X X X X X X Professional (Technical and Vocational) X X X X X X Tertiary X X X X Non-formal X X X X X X X “Data collection” indicates where data requests have been initiated. Other institutions involved in the production of data pertinent to education 40. Another institution which produces education-related statistics is the General Statistical Office (GSO). It has offices at provincial, as well as district, levels. These local offices gather data from the respective education offices and report to the GSO at the central level. Although data harmonization is done between MOET and GSO, sometimes there are data discrepancies between their publications. There is discussion underway between the two agencies to ensure consistent data. In the future, MOET will provide the data directly to the GSO, instead of the GSO compiling the data from its own local offices. 41. In additional to collecting and compiling national statistics, GSO is also a leading agency for conducting surveys and censuses. It is responsible for conducting the national population census and other household surveys. Some of these surveys contain education variables, and are useful sources of education data that complements the administrative data produced by both government and developmental agencies. Data collected by surveys includes information that cannot be obtained via administrative data, for example: data on socio-economic status, on characteristics of the out-of-school population, on outcomes of education as measured by literacy, etc. They provide indicators with regard to access and participation to education that can be used to Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -14-analyze the status of the school population in relationship to social, cultural and financial characteristics and to the labour market. The data on school attendance can be triangulated against results of the administrative data as a means of quality assurance. These surveys also help identify out-of-school children, and their social or economic reasons for not attending schools. Furthermore, one can study the impact of educational level on employment prospects and economic return (external efficiency). 42. Some of the education-related surveys and censuses (either entirely dedicated to education or with questions or components related to education included) conducted over the last five years by the GSO were: • Annual survey on changes in population, conducted on the 1 April of every year • Viet Nam Living Standard Survey (every two years) • Viet Nam Labour Force Surveys (2000-2001) • Viet Nam Demographic and Health Survey (2000) • Survey on Adolescents (15-24 years old) (2003) • Survey on Children (2003) 43. Although it is possible to use the data from household surveys to complement the administrative data produced by MOET to formulate better and more realistic education policy, so far there is little evidence that the survey data has been used in policy formulation and programme planning. 44. One of the most important data for the education sector produced by the GSO is the population data. The data is normally derived from population censuses and household surveys. The population data -particularly the school-age population – is a main component for calculating a number of indicators for the educational sector, such as gross and net enrolment ratios and intake rates. To produce those education indicators which require population data, the Ministry of Education uses projections produced by the GSO based on the last census. This demographic data and the resultant projections from the GSO comprise the country’s official data on population. The GSO made projections of the population aged 5 years through 2010. However, this data is available up to the provincial level only. Furthermore, to calculate relevant education indicators like GER and NER, MOET still requires school-age population figures, and needs to make a special request to the GSO for this. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -15-4.2 Resource Assessment 45. Quality outputs and delivery capacity of statistical units are highly dependent on the number and experience of staff and facilities. The following section depicts a brief assessment of resource availability for EMIS services in terms of human, infrastructure/equipment, and financial resources at different administrative levels. 4.2.1 Human resources, skill and knowledge 46. At the central level, as mentioned earlier, the Planning and Finance Department is responsible for consolidating all the statistics for pre-primary, primary and secondary levels, as well as tertiary and some part of professional (vocational and technical) education. However, only four statisticians are managing the spectrum of statistics (one with bachelor degree in statistics, one in accounting and the other two in IT). They are responsible for consolidating the data from the provincial level, maintaining the national database, producing annual yearbooks, and responding to requests from various national and international users. 47. All of them have at least a bachelor’s degree as a minimum academic qualification; only one has a statistics background. In terms of experience in the field of education statistics, these statisticians have ten years or more of experience, except for one staff who is newly recruited. Though they are knowledgeable in statistics and database management, due to weak communication skills in English, they have not been exposed to overseas training. There is, however, a provision for recruitment of two more positions, which are pending approval of recruitment rules. 48. Though analysis and research are integral aspects of a statistics unit’s mandate, there is no evidence that statistical analysis application packages or research activities to produce the policy-oriented analysis have been used. This indicates that the main function of the statistics units is to produce the traditional statistical summary (yearbook). It is no longer adequate these days for a statistics unit to enhance its productivity without having analytical skill and use of statistical software. So far, the skills possessed by the staff dealing with statistics are in spreadsheet application and database management software. 49. This lack of adequate staff, compounded by the weak skill in EMIS, greatly hampers the entire process of data compilation, analysis and production of statistics at the national level. It seems that the office at the central level, with few professional staff, is underresoource to fulfil the broader institutional mandate described above. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -16-50. At the provincial level, the Planning and Finance Department of the Provincial Education Office is responsible for collection, compilation, analysis and dissemination of education statistics/data of its respective province. Nowadays, as a result of decentralization of EMIS at the provincial level, every provincial education office is supposed to have its own EMIS unit under the Planning and Finance Department. It is assumed that provincial level offices will take on more responsibility for EMIS functions like processing data, providing information and producing reports for the concerned provincial officials. Only about 20 provinces have dedicated staff to carry out the EMIS tasks, while in other provinces, these tasks are part of the many responsibilities of the planning officer. 51. Staff who are assigned for EMIS have basic skill in operating computers and rudimentary knowledge of spreadsheets and word processing. Some EMIS units are capable of making ad hoc data extractions needed for reports and specific data queries. However, most of them seem to lack the knowledge and skill for database management such as querying and producing reports that are essential for facilitating planning. 52. District education offices have a similar situation. In general, the functions of district EMIS personnel are mostly limited to supporting the process of data collection. The absence of advanced training in the use of database management software makes it impossible for district level staff to develop and utilize their education database. Crucially, relevant capacity development programmes have been absent from the devolution process which transferred some EMIS functions from central to provincial to district levels. 53. Since the data operators at district EMIS cells are usually the individuals who are knowledgeable and competent in computer operation, they are often exploited by senior officials to prepare other administrative tasks requiring a computer. Thus, in order to establish a functional and operational EMIS at the district level, a dedicated assignment along with a clear term of reference and authority would be required for those persons. Furthermore, EMIS staff members at the district levels need to enhance their skill on the use of database and spreadsheet software not only to do basic data entry tasks, but also to carry out analysis and reporting. 54. It has been noted that adequate staffing and capacity in statistics/computer applications vary among the provinces and districts. In this regard, significant staff capacity and Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -17-capability gaps can be expected, since most EMIS tasks are delegated to the sub-national level as part of the decentralization process. In general, shortage of staff, along with weak capability -especially in analytical skill -is the main human resource issue at the provincial level. 55. One emerging area in EMIS to which most education ministries in the region pay attention nowadays is the development of a Geographical Information System (GIS). It is a useful application for school mapping and spatial analysis of education data that is essential for educational planning and management. The ongoing decentralisation process in Viet Nam has as one of its objectives an equalization of schooling opportunities for all citizens by ensuring that supply of educational services adequately matches demand in every corner of the country. 56. In order to have this challenge met, it requires visual summaries of demand and supply gaps (sometimes even at the micro-level) that enable policy makers with less exposure to mathematics or statistics to make fast and consistent policy choices. A good way of creating such visual summaries is school-mapping based on Geographical Information Systems linked to a school census database. Not only relevant at the central level, local levels can also use GIS for school mapping as a micro-planning tool, particularly to facilitate planning and construction of new schools. It does not appear, however, that GIS is currently used much for either planning or operational activities. 4.2.2 Technical Infrastructure and Equipment 57. It is essential to have an adequate computing environment in order to perform EMIS functions that produce quality education statistics in a timely manner. This includes a proper network and computing infrastructure, sufficient capacity of servers, back up and security facilities, and regular maintenance. Such settings tend to be increasingly critical for today’s information demand society. At the same time, such equipment requires skill and knowledge that is highly technical, as well as a significant amount of investment. To get the right balance, one must carefully plan by taking into account the actual and prospective extent of data development requirements, the choice of operational processes throughout the whole chain of data collection and processing, and the sustainability of the investment. In Viet Nam’s case, although basic computing facilities are provided through various EMIS project at the central ministry and both provincial and district levels by government and developmental partners, many improvements in terms of infrastructure are still needed in order to meet current, as well as future, demand. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -18-58. At the central level, most of the staff members are adequately equipped with computers and other office equipment. Generally, there is a ratio of one computer to one staff member. At the Planning and Finance Department Statistics Unit, which is the place to process education census data at the central level, there are five computers and a laser printer for each computer. Most of the computers are Pentium IV, with a memory of at least 256 MB and hard disk capacity of 40 GB – enough to do data mining and statistical analysis. All the computers are connected with Local Area Network. Internet facility with permanent connection is also available. The Unit has one scanner, one LCD projector and one CD Writer. There are limited numbers of laptops for mobile training. 59. Availability of equipment and technical infrastructure at the provincial EMIS units are varied, and partly depends on donor support. While some provinces (e.g. HCM) have a very advanced IT facility, some provinces have merely outdated computers. 60. Donors – especially the EC – have provided IT equipment to strengthen and modernize provincial EMIS activities. As part of its SMOET project, all provinces are equipped with a server, several PCs and printers. One PC, along with a laser printer, has also been provided to most of the districts. Indeed, it seems that most local offices have been provided with computer facilities in order to set up an EMIS. Data capture software has been installed and staff have been trained in data processing on a pilot basis, as well. Some of the districts have started to collect data. There are about 40 provinces which are currently using this data capture software to gather and consolidate their data. 61. In addition, network equipment and internet facilities have been installed at the provincial level. Actually, Internet facilities (dial-up connection) are available at almost all the provincial education office units; however, there is low utilization of this service due to a lack of know-how among staff, as well as to reliability and speed of the service. There is, however, an ambitious plan to connect with district level offices and transfer data via the Internet. Although this will be a natural next step in order for future EMIS to have interactive and timely data, all these plans are still in the form of futuristic thinking and require significant investment in terms of IT infrastructure and capacity-building. 62. In view of devolution and initiatives on decentralization of EMIS tasks, district education offices are becoming important: both government and developmental agencies are giving priority to them. There are at least one or two computers and printers Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -19-dedicated to EMIS activities at most of the district offices, although capacity, usability and functionality of this equipment are doubtful. 63. The major EMIS function at the district level is the consolidation of annual school census forms to provide a district summary. Apart from that, producing summary statistics tables for various district reports (probably using Excel) would be the most frequent statistical operation done at the local level. There is very little use of computers to validate and analyze data at this level. 4.2.3 Financial resource for statistical services 64. In order to have fully functional and sustainable EMIS, adequate funding is required not only at the developmental stage, but also for continuous operations and upgrading. Regarding external assistance to EMIS development activities, there has been strong involvement from the EU. Over the last couple of years, EMIS activities for basic education -especially at the provincial and district levels -were carried out under the EU-funded SMOET project. The project started in 1999 and completed in 2004. Priority was given to set up an EMIS system at the provincial level. As previously mentioned, project activities included the development of provincial EMIS systems and the allocation of related IT equipment (computers, printers, network) at both the provincial and district levels. 5. DIAGNOSIS ON COLLECTION, PROCESSING AND USE OF EDUCATIONAL STATISTICS 65. The regular school census is the main source of education statistics. From time-to-time the other concerned departments also collect data from schools for various purposes. This causes duplication in data collections among the departments. These collected data are used mainly for the internal planning purposes. Most of the annual reports from concerned departments and provincial offices cover statistics in their respective areas. Although they contain only basic statistics, and little on analysis and other education indicators. A brief analysis of the collection and production of education statistics at different education levels is presented in the following sections. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -20-5.1 Diagnosis of the Production of Statistics Chain 66. In order to produce provincial and nationwide education statistics, data is usually derived from the school censuses that are administered by the Planning and Finance Department at the central level. These are conducted three times a year; however, collected data is varied. Normally, the scope of the data covers primary and general secondary education. 67. Data collection forms are initiated and distributed from the central level. Generally, the central level sends out one set of questionnaires to the districts via provincial education offices, and then district education offices reproduce the set in order to distribute them to local schools. The forms are self-explanatory, though sometimes a brief session (halfdaay is conducted to highlight changes and revisions in the questionnaires. 68. At the school level, usually the questionnaires are completed by the school principal or a teacher. In some cases, district education officers go to individual schools or call school heads to request them to complete the forms with his/her assistance. For larger schools such as big primary schools in urban areas or secondary schools, each teacher provides information about his/her classes and one official consolidates to have a complete form. Once schools complete the forms, an original set is returned to the district education office. The district offices consolidate the district summary from these collected questionnaires. The school should keep a copy of its completed questionnaire for reference and use. However, this rule is not strictly followed, and during the visits, it was found that some schools (especially in rural areas) are not keeping the questionnaires. Schools are expected to return the original questionnaires within two weeks. 69. Once the schools return the filled questionnaires to the district education offices, the district education officers verify completeness and accuracy, and then consolidate the information to produce a district summary in an Excel format. Although the concerned district education officers are supposed to check and validate the returned questionnaires, in many cases, this does not happen. This is due to the fact that district staffs either have little experience or capability in doing such an assignment, or do not have sufficient time. In addition, data validation procedures are not systematic and no guideline and instructions are given to the district level. Another misconception is that a questionnaire signed and stamped by a school authority with an official seal is official, and thus, accurate: People simply accept without checking on accuracy and reliability of the data. There may be a way of transferring data electronically; however because, of the Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -21-requirement for an official signature, many still use the traditional practice of sending paper questionnaires. 70. District summary data is then forwarded to the provincial education offices. At the provincial offices, the data is synthesized and sent to the central level. At the national level, the provincial data is consolidated into a national database and an annual publication of national education statistics, or Yearbook is produced. The annual yearbook covers aggregated data on education (provincial summary grouped by region) up to the secondary education level. Even though these publications are intended to use for the planning of the next school year, sometimes they miss the target due to various reasons; some of the main reasons are – data from some of the districts do not arrive in the scheduled time, delay or insufficient funds for printing of publications, delay in approval from higher authorities to release the data. On average, it takes about 3 to 4 months for data from schools to arrive at the central level for consolidation. 71. As mentioned before, the GSO is one of the main sources of education statistics especially population data as well as data form household surveys. It compiles data from various secondary sources and collected information appears in the annual statistical yearbook and other publications published by the GSO. 5.2 Analysis of Data Collection Instruments and Data Entry Software 5.2.1 Review of the data collection instruments 72. The school census questionnaires (basic education) collect the much-needed information for policy formulation and planning. However, this collected information has never been fully utilized because of inability to transform them into useful and publishable forms, as well as due to lack of timely dissemination. As mentioned before, data collections are carried out three times a year. There are 45 forms for collecting data from various institutions at different times. A brief instruction and explanation for some of the data items which can be confused are attached as part of the questionnaires. The following table provides a list of the forms which are sent out to various schools to collect information, as well as the deadlines required to return the dully completed forms to the respective higher authorities. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -22-Date of reporting to Form ID Description District Provincial PFD, MOET 1ND Data collection form for nursery school (beginning of school year) 20-Sep 01-Oct 10-Oct 3MD Data collection form for pre-school (beginning of school year) 20-Sep 01-Oct 10-Oct 3AMND Data collection form for school which has nursery and pre-school classes (beginning of school year) 20-Sep 01-Oct 10-Oct 5C1D Data collection form for primary school (beginning of school year) 20-Sep 01-Oct 10-Oct 7C2D Data collection form for secondary school (beginning of school year) 20-Sep 01-Oct 10-Oct 9CSD Data collection form for school which has primary and secondary classes (beginning of school year) 20-Sep 01-Oct 10-Oct 11C2-3D Data collection form for school which has secondary and high school classes (beginning of school year) 13C3D Data collection form for high school (beginning of school year) 20-Sep 01-Oct 10-Oct 2NG Data collection form for nursery school (middle of school year) 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 4MG Data collection form for pre-school (middle of school year) 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 4AMNG Data collection form for school which has nursery and pre-school classes (middle of school year) 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 6C1G Data collection form for primary school (middle of school year) 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 8C2G Data collection form for secondary school (middle of school year) 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 10CSG Data collection form for school which has primary and secondary classes (middle of school year) 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 12C2-3G Data collection form for school which has secondary and high school classes (middle of school year) 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 14C3G Data collection form for high school (middle of school year) 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 15ACL Statistical report on quality of primary school 10-Jun 20-Jun 30-Jun 15BCL Statistical report on quality of secondary and high schools 10-Jun 20-Jun 30-Jun 16TN Statistical report on graduation at all levels 30 days after exam 17BT Statistical report on illiteracy eradication and regular education 10-Jan 20-Jan 30-Jan 73. Collected data items can be grouped as information pertaining to school, classes, pupils, staff and physical facilities. 74. School information: Apart from a school’s general information, the major common items queried in this section are whether a school meets a national standard and whether it is a double-shift school or not. 75. Class information: Number of classes (total and grouped by major subject groups) are collected. 76. Pupil information: The basic data needed for the calculation of the major coverage, output and efficiency indicators are collected. They are generally classified by gender and class. Forms required at the beginning of the school year also collect data on new entrants and repeaters. Age-wise data is collected in the “middle of school year” forms. Moreover, pupil data is also collected by particular characteristics, such as urban, plain, remote, minority, youth union member, vocational trainees, Russian, English, French and Chinese specialization, children of war invalids, disabled, etc.. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -23-77. Although number of classes and double-shift school information is collected, no information has been collected for each pedagogic group or stream. Information is instead aggregated for each grade. 78. In general, all data concerning pupils is collected in two dense tables. Several data overlap or are partially redundant, which can lead to inconsistent data. The questionnaire would be more effective if efforts were made to synthesize the content and to have effective layout for clarity and easiness. 79. Staff information: Aggregated data of staff information is collected by sex, as well as by different categories. These include: party member, designation, subject taught, staff or contracted teacher, etc. However, it seems that information like years of experience, qualification and training, which are important contributing factors to the quality of education, are not collected. In addition, the structure of the questionnaire does not yield a linkage between teachers and their pupils. This would be possible if data is collected using the concept of pedagogical group, where the link between teachers and the pedagogical group(s) they teach is collected. Not having this information greatly reduces the possibilities of making qualitative analysis. 80. Physical facilities: The data collected on school buildings and physical facilities include number of classrooms, as well as other facilities such as library, sports ground, etc. The “middle of the school year” questionnaire gathers information on area of such rooms, which is rather static since data is collected at the school level and not at the classroom level. The relationship between availability and condition of equipment influences education quality, and ideally, if this information were available at the classroom level, the potential for qualitative analysis would be improved. The data on type of materials used in constructing the buildings is too general by nature and, therefore, does not facilitate sound statistical compilation for planning purposes, such as for school construction and renovation plans. 81. Regarding financial information, schools are obliged to report revenue and expenditure for the period 1 January to 31 December. Revenue includes allocation of government budget (current expenditure, resources of national target programmes, capital investment) and other revenues (learning fees, contribution, boarding, etc.). Expenditures to be reported are categorized in accordance with the budget line described in the state budget. District offices summarize this information by type of school (nursery, preDiagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -24-school, primary, secondary, high schools, etc.) and then send it to provincial education offices. 82. In addition to the above-mentioned information collected at the beginning and middle of the school year, qualifications of pupils, number of graduates and examination results are gathered at the end of the school year. There is no evidence that information on teaching and learning materials, community participation and school monitoring are systematically compiled. The following table shows the information gathered through school questionnaires by different educational levels. Pre-primary Primary Secondary High School School information Type of school X X X X Type of school administration X X X X School building Ownership of school building Type of construction Building condition X X X X No of classrooms X X X X Type and no of rooms X X X X Availability of basic facilities Availability of school text books Availability of teaching learning materials Enrolment Sex X X X X Grade X X X X Age X X X X Repeaters X X X Drop-out Graduates X X X Teaching staff Sex X X X X Qualification X X X X Trained/untrained Year of experience Type of employee Pay scale School finance X X School committee School expenditure School scholarship 83. Although these data collection instruments gather key education data, some information which is useful and relevant for policy planning and monitoring is still lacking. In addition, often the forms are poorly structured. It might be possible to reduce the number of questionnaires by identifying the “common-core content” and append the specific Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -25-characteristics of different education sectors separately to optimise the design of the questionnaires. 84. Beyond its purely quantitative importance, the collected data could certainly be more useful as regards analytical potential if it were broken down in a way that enabled crosstabullatio of information on pupils and conditions of learning/school environment. In this way, if all related information on each stream within a class could be collected by “pedagogic group,” it would yield more potential for qualitative analysis of the data collected. 85. One of the bottlenecks is that at the school level, there is no proper explanation on how to derive or transform the data from school record-keeping files to complete the annual school census forms. Although schools have kept various information on school, teachers and pupils in its record-keeping forms (admission forms, admission/withdrawal register book, individual teacher files, attendance sheets, student performance sheets, etc.), all the data is scattered. There has been little consolidating and summarizing of this data into useful information formats. Especially when there is a need for enrolment data based on age, this lack of tally sheet or summary form makes it impossible for schools to provide accurate data. There may be orientation meetings or trainings on how to fill the annual school census forms; however, these training do not seem to disseminate the concept of linkages between the school census forms and existing school record-keeping systems. 5.2.2 Review of the computer applications for data processing 86. Data is processed by using Microsoft Excel. There are more than 15 Excel files. Each file holds several worksheets that represent different forms. In total, there are more than 42 worksheets for different forms for different school types. Once schools return the forms, district education offices compile the data in the respective Excel sheets to produce the district summary. Then these Excel files containing district summaries are sent to provincial education offices to produce provincial summaries. At the central level, all these data from Excel files are consolidated into a database using the program developed in Microsoft Foxpro. However, the Foxpro database contains only the data from primary and secondary education, and other data (pre-school, tertiary,and vocational and technical education) are still kept in the Excel format. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -26-87. The Excel data files are not structured nor designed to link the collected data. Data is entered independently in each Excel worksheet (even in a single file). In addition, there are no data validation checks which can be easily done by built-in Excel functions or simple macro programs. 88. A good modelling of the data is necessary for the adaptability of the information system. Currently, the EMIS data is stored as a separate database for each school year. The fact that the data is not structured and not in a single database induces redundancy and inconsistency of data. It is common practice to transfer basic information, such as school address, from the previous year to the current year. The previous year data would also be useful to estimate for the missing data. The approach of storing data in separate databases does not facilitate the processing of missing data. This limits the ability to carry out the longitudinal, multi-year analysis. The longitudinal analysis of the data can also be an important tool for quality assurance of the data by examining the logical consistency of changes in the data. With a longitudinal database, these inconsistencies could be removed during processing and cleaning of the data. This type of task cannot be done easily and automatically if the data is not stored in a single database. In addition, some fields are redundant or useless. Having two fields with the same nature can only lead to inconsistency. 89. In parallel with existing Ministry data collection, the SMOET project is gathering school data at some provinces as a pilot test. As part of the activities, new questionnaires and data processing software are being developed which are written in Microsoft Excel and include nineteen files and worksheets. They are grouped together under the generic name of “School Profile,” and contain a total of 188 spreadsheets to cover key aspects of education from all types of schools. Apparently, the forms have been revised to gather more information for planning and monitoring use at the local, as well as the central, level. During the short mission, a detailed analysis of all these questionnaires could not be made. However, a high number of forms suggest that the SMOET’s EMIS establishment did not lead to a complete revision of the collection tools. At the district level, these Excel sheets are merged into a Microsoft Access-type database for consolidation at the provincial level. Then, at the provincial level, an INFOMIX database is used for on-line and Web purposes. It was not possible to actually witness this process since the visited sites were no longer operational. 90. The high number of data collection forms, along with no inter-linkage and weak data validation functions, makes any data maintenance almost impossible. In addition, if the Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -27-data to be stored is to cover many years and intended to be accessed on-line, the amount/degree of maintenance and synchronization requirements would be tremendous. Thus, while admittedly very promising, it would be extremely heavy to deploy. The MOET structures, both at the central and decentralised levels, are far from being technically and administratively ready to host such a system. 91. Also, the decision to use the INFORMIX database management system at the provincial level has undoubtedly been an aggravating factor. This DBMS, technically efficient as it may be, requires database management skills that most provincial EMIS personnel do not have. 92. The lack of user-friendly access to the database is seen as one of the current system’s major limitations. Due to the complexity of file organization, as well as to the difficulty in querying other than pre-identified tables, education planners and policy analysts often must rely on specialists to produce their required tables, which in some cases may need to be customized. This is a principal impediment to using the data for policy purposes. Although some of the EMIS data is accessible electronically with pre-defined formats, this access is largely limited to fixed sets of tables for which layout or content may not correspond to the user’s interest. 5.3 Analysis on Production and Use of Data and Indicators 5.3.1 Information Needs 93. A culture of evidence-based decision-making using statistics is emerging among stakeholders, and the demand for even more qualitative information is growing faster. Existing systems offer only the basic quantitative data which only partially meet such demands. Though school census questionnaires do collect much-needed information for policy formulation and planning, this collected information has never been fully utilized. Central Level 94. Under the national education sector development plan, as well as other developmental plans such as the poverty reduction plan, performance indicators to measure progress are in place. For every indicator, baseline data and annual targets have been established. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -28-These indicators are key in monitoring education progress towards national goals at the central level. Provincial Level 95. Each province needs to prepare a provincial education plan. As at the central level, various education indicators are required for monitoring and evaluation purposes. In addition to data needs related to monitoring and evaluation of provincial plans, information for planning purposes is also needed. Required data, such as information regarding construction of schools and provision of text books, is compiled by the provincial EMIS Unit, presented to the Planning Department, and used in developing provincial plans. The plans are sent to the Provincial Planning authority who establishes a budget. There are mid-term and annual plans to be carried out. Actual practice may differ from province to province. District level 96. As indicated earlier, the districts are in the process of acquiring real administrative autonomy, and are responsible for delivery of local government services across all sectors. Each district is now required to develop an education development plan and the required appropriate budget provision. For planning and monitoring of the process, the district requires more education indicators and information than the usual basic data, including the number of teachers to retire, the number of newly recruited teachers, new entrants, the number of classrooms constructed, etc. Other socio-economic data, such as out-of school population, are also essential. Furthermore, district offices are required to develop and monitor annual financial planning/expenditure. International Information Needs 97. National governments and the international community, alike, strive to meet important development goals. These include the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Education for All goals, the EFA FTI Indicative Framework, and the UN Literacy Decade. To assess progress towards these initiatives and measure achievement, several benchmark education indicators are established, and countries are required to provide information pertaining to these indicators. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -29-98. Under the FTI Indicative Framework, there is a need to examine in more detail the requirements for timely information on education expenditure and how to address these. This includes the need for timely financial indicators, such as: • Public domestically-generated revenues as percentage of GDP • Education share of budget (%) • Primary education share of education budget (%) • Average annual salary of primary school teachers, separately for civil service and contract teachers • Recurrent spending on items other than teacher remuneration as percentage of spending on education 99. Furthermore, descriptive variables concerning teaching staff, such as pre-service and inserrvic trainings, starting age and years of experience, are some of the major factors in pedagogic behaviour, and thus, necessary to effectively measure an education system’s quality. 100. The following table identified core information needs for formulating and monitoring development plans at different levels: Central Provincial District Number of school entrance age population (by sex) X X X Number of new entrants (by sex) X X X Number of new entrants with prior schooling (by sex) X X X Gross intake rate X X X Access Net intake rate X X X Number of students (by sex, by age) X X X Number of official school-age population (by sex) X X X Over-age students X X X Under-age students X X X Gross enrolment rate X X X Participation Net enrolment rate X X X Number of repeaters (by grade and by sex) X X X Number of drop-outs (by grade and by sex) X X X Promotion rate (by grade and by sex) X X Repetition rate (by grade and by sex) X X Dropout rate (by grade and by sex) X X X Survival rate (by grade and by sex) X X X Numbers of graduates (by level by sex) X X X Performance Number appeared and pass (by level by sex) X X X Number of schools (by categories and administration) X X X % of schools with basic facilities (drinking water, toilet, library, etc..) X X % of classrooms with durable materials (walls and roof) X X % of double-shift classrooms X X Student-class room ratio (by grade, by level) X X X Number of students per textbook (by subject) X X Number of teachers (by sex, by qualifications, by level, by class) X X X Quality of education Pupil-teacher ratio (by level, by grade) X X X Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -30-Central Provincial District % of students schooled in double shifts X X % of students schooled in mixed-grade classes X X % of students attending a school > 3 km from their homes X Public current expenditure on primary education as a % of total public expenditure on education X X Public current expenditure on primary education as a % of GNP X X Public current expenditure on primary education as a % of GNP per capita X X Education expenditure Unit cost per student X X X 5.3.2 Review of Key Outputs, Dissemination and Accessibility for Users 101. Experience from many countries shows that the more accessible data is, the better the interaction between data producers and users. This accessibility, in turn, helps to shape the design of information systems for meeting user needs in response to new information demands. Such interactions also contribute to scrutinize and critically review data quality and, more importantly, to broaden the scope of data and indicators available to users. One end goal of the whole chain of statistical data production is to provide comprehensive useful information to policy makers in order to facilitate and support their decision-making process. 102. Publications from the MOET at the central level are generally annual by nature, and presented in the form of a yearbook, the Educational Statistics Yearbook. There are three main annual publications of education statistics, covering (i) general education of preschhoo to secondary, (ii) tertiary education and (iii) professional (vocational and technical) education. These reports contain summary information and some useful education indicators at the national, as well as provincial, levels. They are core statistical publications describing the situation of Viet Nam’s education system at the basic education level. From time to time, MOET also publishes 5-and 10-year time-series data. All these publications are available only in the Vietnamese language. In addition, MOET produces a brochure containing summary education statistics of all areas. It is available both in Vietnamese and English. 103. Usually 200 copies of the Yearbooks are published and distributed to the educational authorities at the central and provincial levels, as well as to other concerned ministries, institutions and agencies. Although the diagnostic study did not cover all regions and districts, it seems that the publications are little used at the decentralized levels and that, consequently, the statistical publications are limited. Most of the officials -especially at the district level -did not seem to use or were unaware of these publications’ existence. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -31-104. Except for the annual yearbook and some ad-hoc publications, statistical data of education in Viet Nam is not very accessible. The statistics on primary and secondary education available at the national level cover a limited scope of information. For other sub-sectors like tertiary education, only basic information at the national level is available. Most of the data from the yearbook is also available in the annual Statistical Yearbook published by the General Statistical Office. The difference, however, is that the annual yearbook produced by MOET is available only in Vietnamese, while the Statistical Yearbook of GSO is in English and Vietnamese. Within the SMOET project, the Ministry is trying to distribute data electronically, as well as use the Web; both have yet to be realized. 105. Apart from these publications, other concerned departments and provincial education offices produce reports, which include some basic statistics. However, due to lack of data, skill and expertise, all these reports contain little or no analysis of the data. Utilization of the data is also low. There is little information and limited indicators are available compared to the data requested in the annual school questionnaires. The various indicators needed to measure progress towards Education for All (EFA) and MDG goals are not available. Also, users voiced concerns over the quality and consistency of the data. 106. There have been some attempts at initiating GIS activities at provincial education offices (HCM). However, neither the central level nor any of the provinces have been able to produce the GIS-related reports and results of these activities. Furthermore, there is no evidence that GIS has been used for policy analysis. 107. EMIS teams at the provincial and district offices are supposed to be information providers for the formulation and implementation of the local education plan, as well as play a key role in monitoring the state of education in their areas. This, however, is a bit ambitious for the time being. Such responsibilities require adequate staff training, and such training is not well undertaken. At the same time, technical difficulties in accessing data also discourage staff effectiveness. 108. There is little useful information available and, at the same time, little effective use of information. This is true at all levels (central to local level). Such low utilization of statistics is partly due to the fact that: 1) the concerned statistics unit is unable to produce useful information from the collected data; 2) weak analysis capability and lack of Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -32-human resources in the statistics and planning services; 3) little or no practice in the use of educational statistics among planners. Analysis of the data from the EMIS database and more in-depth use of the data for policy-related measures would be needed. Furthermore, the delay in the production and diffusion of statistics makes the situation more severe. 109. The collaboration between statisticians and policy analysts is weak. The Ministry EMIS staff are consumed mostly with collection, production and dissemination of school census data. Also institutional links between statisticians in the Ministry of Education and other ministries and institutions such as the General Statistics Office are also weak. Stronger institutional links are needed to ensure better use of data to inform education policy and debate. The stronger institutional links could additionally foster ways of maintaining and developing the professional capacities of MOE staff. 110. The MOE does not make use of a rich array of data from household surveys that provide complementary information on education. The data especially related to sociodemoggraphi information from various household surveys and censuses could effectively be used in projecting education demand and resources. 111. It should also be noted that coverage in terms of content is particularly weak with regard to financial data. Since the devolution took place, financial data are no longer available centrally or regionally. Although schools report various kinds of financial information, such as quarterly budgets and audited expenses, there has never been consolidation of this information at the district level or higher. In most cases, such information is available on paper, but it is not integrated into the EMIS. As a result, no information on education finance is reported in the yearbook. 5.4 Analysis of Data Quality using DQAF (Data Quality Assessment Framework) 112. There are a number of data quality issues at the national level – many of these impacting on the quality of international data that can be reported for Viet Nam. In this section, quality of education data in Viet Nam is examined through the “Data Quality Assessment Framework (DQAF)”. 113. DQAF is part of an initiative being lead by IMF to improve overall standard and comparability of national and international data. The UIS, together with the World Bank Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -33-developed an education-specific DQAF instrument to assess the overall settings required from education statistics units around the World with a view to certify quality of their statistical outputs. One important element of the diagnostic study is the completion of the DQAF in order to provide a benchmark of the data quality at the outset of the project and also to help pinpoint weak areas that need to be addressed. 114. This instrument is based on six main dimensions that are considered essential for evaluation of data quality. These dimensions are: • Prerequisite conditions to quality; • Integrity; • Methodological soundness; • Accuracy and reliability; • Serviceability; • Accessibility; 115. The assessment has been conducted for the central level only, and the following table presents its outcomes using DQAF: DETAILED EVALUATION OF THE QUALITY OF THE DATA MOET 0 Pre-requisites of quality 44% 0.1 Legal and institutional environment 60% 0.2 Resources are commensurate with needs of statistical programs. 38% 0.3 Quality awareness – Quality is a cornerstone of statistical work. 40% 1 Integrity 50% 1.1 Professionalism – Statistical policies and practices are guided by professional principles. 56% 1.2 Transparency -Statistical policies and practices are transparent. 40% 1.3 Ethical standards Policies and practices are guided by ethical standards. 50% 2 Validity -The methodological basis for the statistics follows internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices. 59% 2.1 Concepts and definitions – Concepts and definitions used are in accord with standard statistical frameworks 50% 2.2 Scope – The scope is in accord with internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices. 67% 2.3 Classification/sectorization – Classification and sectorization systems are in accord with internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices 50% 2.4 Basis for recording – Data are recorded according to internationally accepted standards, guidelines, or good practices. 67% 3 Accuracy and reliability –data sources and statistical techniques 53% 3.1 Source data – Source data available provide an adequate basis to compile statistics. 20% 3.2 Statistical techniques employed conform to sound statistical procedures, and are documented. 75% 3.3 Assessment and validation of source data : source data are regularly assessed and validated 67% 3.4 Intermediate results and statistical outputs are regularly assessed and validated. 67% 3.5 Revision studies : Revisions, as a gauge of reliability, are tracked and studied for the information they may provide. 50% 4 Serviceability: Statistics are relevant, timely, consistent, and follow a predictable revisions policy. 56% 4.1 Relevance : Statistics cover relevant information on the subject field. 50% 4.2 Timeliness and periodicity follow internationally accepted dissemination standards. 33% Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -34-DETAILED EVALUATION OF THE QUALITY OF THE DATA MOET 4.3 Consistency : Statistics are consistent within a dataset and over time, and with other major data sets. 57% 4.4 Revision policy and practice : Data revisions follow a regular and publicized procedure. 75% 5 Accessibility: Data and metadata are easily available and assistance to users is adequate 57% 5.1 Data accessibility : Statistics are presented in a clear and understandable manner, forms of dissemination are adequate, and statistics are made available on an impartial basis. 50% 5.2 Metadata accessibility : Up-to-date and pertinent metadata are made available. 60% 5.3 Assistance to users 67% 116. Viet Nam has already prepared and established the required foundation to set up the education statistical information system to provide users with timely, policy-oriented information. Legal and administrative mechanisms have been established, and relevant staff members have the minimum competencies to carry out their functions and responsibilities. Methodologies and techniques to produce the necessary educational indicators and information mostly comply with international standards. The methods and procedures to validate and improve the quality of data are somewhat in place. Factors concerning quality assurance include: • Resources • Quality awareness • Transparency • Source of data • Timeliness and periodicity • Relevance • Meta data accessibility • Assistance to the users 117. See from the graph below, although the most of the major criteria are between 50 to 60 per cent, indicating a good scope for improvement in all dimensions. The dimension, “perquisite to the quality” was weakest due to the lack of adequate technical resource and quality awareness. Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -35-118. Thus, while the necessary foundation and mechanism for EMIS already exist, there is a need in moving forward to clearly formulate data and indicators/needs, as the basis for further development. There is a need to put in place the adequate institutional framework and resources (human, technical and financial) required to address the identified needs. In turn clear goals should be set for the statistics units to attain. The goals need to be regularly monitored and achievements constantly assessed. From the findings, the following assessment can be drawn: 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Prerequisites to quality Integrity Validity Accuracy and reliability Functionality Accessibility MOET(Central)Diagnosis on Collection, Processing and Use of Educational Statistics Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -36-Assessment of capacity and performances of EMIS units 119. The purpose of this assessment is to provide an overall vision of data quality in education sector by taking into account all these dimensions in evaluation. Although it may not reflect all details of the states and situation of the data quality issues in education statistics, this assessment could be useful as a guiding tool to strengthen the country’s statistical system by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the system as well as areas to be improved. MOET (Central level) Clear and non-conflictual mandate ++ Adequacy of policy level support ++ Financial support ++ Data collection strategy Comprehensiveness of data collection instruments + Organizational process & impact on timing + Level of questionnaire recovery + Data processing Adequate number of experienced /skilled staff --Adequate computing facilities ++ Software capabilities and timeliness of data processing -Sound methodologies of missing data treatment --Sound errors tracking methodologies --Outputs, dissemination & use Timeliness of output production + Dissemination media and strategy + Analytical content --+++ Very Good, ++ Good, + Need improvement, -Weak, --Very weak, * Not applicable Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -37-6. MAJOR FINDINGS OF DIAGNOSTIC STUDY AND RECOMMENDATIONS 120. The diagnosis highlights several issues to be addressed in order to have a systematic, coordinated and effective statistical information system that provides timely, reliable and consistent information to planners and policy makers at all levels. The findings show uneven performances among the provinces. Some of the provinces have relatively wellorgaanize collection systems in terms of data processing, analysis and distribution, while others are better in terms of human resources and IT facilities. Still others are struggling to be minimally equipped to perform the tasks. Also skills, capacities and interests of the staffs vary among the provinces and districts. Like other countries, the availability of data at the primary and general secondary levels is much better than other education subsecttors 121. There are several major underlying issues which need to be addressed in order to have an effective and coordinated education statistical information system in Viet Nam. It may not be possible to resolve all these issues and obstacles, which hamper the performance of the entire system. However, observations and findings of the diagnostic study suggest that most of these problems could be overcome with appropriate corrective actions and full commitment from the concerned stakeholders. 122. To this effect, following is a set of key issues and possible actions and recommendations in order to attend to the identified weaknesses as revealed by this diagnostic. Institutionalization and Coordination among Concerned Departments Findings 123. There is not much collaboration among various departments in the MOET, as well as those statistics units in the Education sector and other statistical entities such as the General Statistical Office, to avoid duplicated data collection 124. Good ideas and innovative initiatives do exist, especially at the local level (school, district); however, there is a weakness in exchange of thoughts and little effort to transform ideas into actions. 125. Although the SMOET project was launched to meet these needs, there was little involvement from the concerned ministerial staff in the development process of such a Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -38-system. Furthermore, the system heavily depends on sophisticated IT equipment and complicated technology that require a reliable IT infrastructure and advanced technical skills, which the Ministry -especially at the local level -may not yet have. All these factors put system sustainability/continuity at risk. 126. A nationally integrated information system linking school, district and provincial offices and the Ministry of Education and Training to serve and facilitate regular and ad-hoc requests does not yet exist. 127. Since the population, especially the school age-population, is needed to calculate various educational indicators, it is necessary to have reliable population projections with relevant classifications such as urban/rural, school-age population, and by administrative region. Availability and/or accuracy of such data especially at the disaggregated levels is one the key issues in producing the reliable education indicators. Recommendations 128. As part of a new organizational set up at the Ministry, the Planning and Financial Department is now responsible for the collection and dissemination of education statistics. It, thus, seems that the role and functions of the Statistics Unit at the central level have changed. Due to decentralization, the role of the central-level office has become more sophisticated, such as providing technical assistance to the sub-national offices, maintaining and further enhancing EMIS, providing assurance of data quality, and conducting policy research. It is, hence, essential to ensure that the Statistics Unit be given the mandate, as well as adequate human resources and training, needed. 129. The MOET should establish a mechanism among concerned departments to coordinate the collection of statistical data at different levels. This should also lead to the sharing of resources and expertise among the education offices to develop some joint activities such as development of EMIS, GIS and a school mapping system. 130. The MOET and GSO should establish a technical committee to produce and publish school-age population projections based on an agreed methodology. The MOET also needs to ensure that the EMIS Unit is given the mandate, human resources and training needed to incorporate data from household surveys into the analysis of education issues, Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -39-to complement the information available from the school censuses, and to strengthen the link with the Central Statistics Authority in achieving this. 131. It seems that there was weak technical collaboration and consultation between SMOET’s EMIS project personnel and concerned ministerial staff at the central level. Since sustainability and national ownership are essential components for project success, in future, more interaction, consultation and participation from the ministerial side at all levels and during all project phases is required. Development of a Comprehensive EMIS Database to Facilitate the Devolution Process at the Sub-National Level Findings 132. Previously, the functions of EMIS personnel were to gather and consolidate data coming from lower levels and pass it on to higher level authorities. However, under the process of decentralized education reform, there is an increasing demand for data on all educational activities not only at the central level, but also at other sub-national levels. This implies the need to introduce appropriate information management approaches that suit changing needs, rather than continue the traditional EMIS approach that was used for the centralized system. 133. There is a need to develop a comprehensive database at the local level in order to meet the information requirements of education planners and managers at these levels. The district level, in particular, has become the centre of education services in terms of planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and it requires various sets of education, as well as socio-economic, data. However, most of the district offices are not in positions to respond to these needs. The function of the district EMIS Units is still limited to processing data gathered from schools, and in some cases, they cannot even perform this task well. Recommendations 134. The SMOET project intended to facilitate these missing links; however, a more gradual approach with significant emphasis on building of human capacities is recommended. It should be set up fully harmonization with existing practices and mechanism. Unless it Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -40-will create a parallel process and duplicate data collection which will cause additional burden and confusion both data providers as well as users. Quality of data Findings 135. No standard procedures and methods for verification of data exist. Procedures and methods, as well as rigor of enforcement along the chain of data flow, depend on individual initiative and skills. Furthermore, the traditional practice of considering questionnaires signed by an authority (in this case, a school principal) as official prevents further revision from being done. For this reason, reliability and consistency of the data is open to scrutiny. 136. During the study, it was found that, in most of the cases, data are consolidated manually and stored in the Excel files which have no automated built-in data validation functions. Error and missing data reporting facilities are very limited. 137. The quality of data, especially enrolment data based on age, is too weak to render any age-related data analysis. 138. Since the data is consolidated at the respective levels and only summary information is reported to the higher level, there is no way of checking and validating the accuracy and consistency of the data. Recommendations 139. The MOET should prepare a manual and checklist on how to validate and check the reliability of collected data from schools. It should be distributed along with appropriate training on data validating to staff from provincial and district education offices. Necessary enforcement and procedures should be established in order to set up and sustain this practice. This would greatly improve the quality of data submitted from schools. 140. Data entry software should be designed to include various data validation rules and techniques, as well as a comprehensive error generation report module. This would save significant manpower and energy, and improve data accuracy. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -41-Production and dissemination of data and its usefulness for planning and monitoring Findings 141. Statistical products are sometimes affected by protracted production delays. The data which is needed for planning is rarely available in time. In this sense, information cannot be utilized for the preparation of the next school year. The delayed delivery of data casts a negative light over the statistical unit. Sometimes, it leads to creation of parallel data collection, and most of the activities are conducted in, an uncoordinated manner: there is duplication and inconsistency of data that leads users to doubt which data should be used. In addition, available data in the EMIS is not fully adequate to meet users’ needs. Partial or total dissatisfaction is also noted with parallel data collection exercises in some cases. 142. Statistics are compiled for the limited purpose of reporting to higher authorities and planning for local administration. The Planning Unit at Planning and Finance Department has used the statistics for management purposes. They are not used for analysis, evaluation or forecasting for long-term plans. 143. Throughout various data collections, large amounts of data have been collected. However, little information and useful outputs have been produced. Usefulness of the data is limited because transformation of the raw data into useful information is lacking. There is, for example, little evidence of producing important EFA monitoring indicators such as enrollment rates, intake rates, transition rates, and completion rates. Only summary information is available at each administrative level. 144. Effort is needed in terms of diversifying dissemination media from basic brochures up to Web publication through to more analytical outputs that ease policy formulation and decision-making and enhance accountability, in general. 145. Furthermore, the “statistical products” are not adequately disseminated to the lower levels. Due to the budget constraint, limited numbers of the publications especially annual yearbooks are produced and distributed. This situation discourages the use of statistical information by the staff. At the same time, the plans are formulated based on unreliable data. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -42-146. The main accessibility issues reported were related to untimely delivery, lack of feedback to data providers and, more importantly, the inflexibility of the disseminated statistics format for the intended or desired users of the data. Recommendations 147. The statistical outputs -especially the yearbook -should be redesigned to: 1) be clearly orientated towards analytical use (with useful indicators), 2) directly intended to influence decision-making, and 3) raise public awareness on the state and progress of education development in the country. Furthermore, other forms of succinct and informative media (such as pamphlets, posters, statistical abstracts with a set of tabulated data or indicators, and graphs/charts with a limited narrative section depicting a simple overview) should be produced for non-technical users. All these publications should be produced in both paper and electronic formats and made available to various data users, including those at the local level. 148. MOET should also establish and utilize the Internet website to disseminate statistics electronically. Resources (human, material and financial) to perform EMIS activities Findings 149. Inadequacy of human and material (equipment) resources is one of the main reasons for ineffective performance of EMIS activities. Especially at the central level, having limited staff definitely hampers the efficiency and delivery of reliable information in a timely manner. 150. At the local level, too, only in exceptional circumstances are staff dedicated enough to carry out statistical operations in addition to their many other assigned responsibilities. 151. Furthermore, in most cases, appropriate technical skills and work experience for effective development and operation of EMIS (especially in data validation, statistical analysis and reporting) are not present at the local level. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -43-152. District and provincial level education offices are equipped with computers and other necessary equipment; however, sustainability is limited in the absence of proper repair and maintenance services, especially in rural areas.. 153. Although most of the provincial offices are equipped with network and internet facilities, these facilities are under-utilized or not in operation at all due to lack of skilled staff. 154. In the four provinces visited, it was observed that hardware and software to be used for EMIS have been delivered. However, no where did the UIS team observe a fully functioning system at the provincial level. IT facilities are also not properly maintained. 155. Telephone lines are available in all districts; however, in reality very few districts in rural areas have internet connectivity. Recommendations 156. Adequate and regular funding should be allocated from provincial and district education budgets so that dedicated staff can be assigned to conduct EMIS activities (especially at the district level, where most of the activities are done). 157. Furthermore, additional funding should be set up for staff development programmes and maintenance of IT facilities. 158. Guidelines for how to properly use and maintain computer equipment should be developed, and appropriate training to EMIS staff at all levels provided. 159. Internet use should be encouraged and made available to local education authorities. Capacity-building needs Findings 160. Most officials responsible for record keeping and statistical activities at the local level predominantly use manual methods, regardless of access to electricity and availability of computers. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -44-161. There is a lack of capacity to fulfil requests for compilation in formats other than statistics forms from the Planning and Finance Department, MOET. 162. There is little effective use of statistics and information among data users, especially decision-makers and planners at all levels. This is partly due to a lack of detailed information that is useful for planning, as well as to a lack of knowledge and skills in statistics. 163. Data is aggregated at the provincial and district levels. However, there is a shortage of statisticians and limited skill (statistics and IT) among existing staff to conduct analytical work and to convert the educational data into indicators necessary for planning, monitoring and evaluation of education systems. 164. Due to decentralization, the role of EMIS staff at the provincial and district levels needs to be strengthened in the areas of research and policy-oriented analysis. Analytical functions are lacking at all levels. 165. Most skill improvement activities are mainly focused on computer functions, and neglect statistical methods and their use in planning, monitoring and evaluation. 166. Furthermore, the existing equipment and facilities cannot be optimally utilized until employees are adequately trained in their use. Recommendations 167. Strengthening staff skills at all levels (central to school) through training activities is essential for effective capacity-building. A strategy needs to be developed to cater to different needs at different levels. This involves a wide range of targeted trainings activities, which should include: • development of training materials to conduct EMIS activities • trainings for the central and sub-national level education officers in: 􀂃 methods and use of educational indicators and statistics 􀂃 analysis of educational data for plan formulation, implementation and monitoring 􀂃 other EMIS-related activities (data validation, record maintenance, surveys and sampling) Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -45-• training for IT personnel: 􀂃 database management, programming and network maintenance 􀂃 use of statistical package and GIS 􀂃 effective and efficient maintenance and operation of IT equipment 168. Sometimes it is desirable to customize capacity-building activities and to target specific needy groups in order to resolve particular issues, instead of providing generic trainings that result in little or no impact. 169. Many talented and capable officials in various technical areas are present in local offices and schools. Sharing/exchanging knowledge and developing joint training activities such as trainees of trainers on education statistics and EMIS would be very cost-effective and also improve cooperation among different offices. Awareness, support and commitment from decision-makers and planners Findings 170. Leadership commitment and knowledge of capacity requirements for EMIS vary among provincial and district levels. Some officials underestimate the importance of statistics. 171. Awareness about the usefulness and importance of statistics and information needs to be developed among potential users, especially decision-makers and planners. 172. Since existing EMIS data cannot effectively serve the planning and decision-making process (especially at the district level), attention and priority are not given to them. This weak political support and insufficient budgetary allocation to furnish adequate human resources and equipment for EMIS activities makes it difficult for EMIS personnel to perform their functions effectively. Recommendations 173. The District EMIS Unit should be designed not only to process and submit data to the provincial level, but also to support the planning and monitoring of district education activities. Information needs at the district level should be identified and incorporated into the output of EMIS software. Various ready-made, easy to interpret and useful education statistics and indicators, such as a district education profile, are suggested. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -46-174. At the same time, in collaboration with other concerned departments, MOET should conduct a series of brief working sessions on interpretation and usage of statistics for education planning and monitoring, targeting senior education officials at the provincial and district levels. There should be interaction and exchange mechanisms between data producers and data users to serve the planning at different levels. 175. An awareness strategy for the use of IT and statistics among various user levels should also be developed. School record-keeping system and systematic procedures to transform school records into annual school census forms Findings 176. There is a well-established mechanism to report education administrative data from schools to the central ministry level. 177. There is a record-keeping system at the school level (intended for internal school management and monitoring), although practices and degree of systematization may differ among schools. Moreover, most of the data remains individualized, with little consolidation into summary form, which the school census requires. For example, age information for individual students is available in school admission/withdrawal register books. However, this data is not readily grouped by class or grade. When enrolment information based on age is needed for the school census questionnaires, it is extremely time-consuming and tedious to track and compile from an admission register where individual student information is kept by year of entry. This problem could be solved by modifications to the school record-keeping system. 178. Appropriate procedures and methods are needed to tabulate the data from school records management systems to school census forms for regular and periodic report compilation. 179. There is limited capacity to respond to ad-hoc requests for data in non-standardized formats that require new compilations. Such requests produce inconsistent reports and demand additional resources. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -47-Recommendations 180. In consultation with concerned education authorities, the MOET should review the existing school record-keeping systems and develop a new standardized system that reflects the need and fulfils the demand for current education planning and monitoring. 181. In addition to paper forms, practices on transferring data electronically – mainly at district to provincial level -should be encouraged with appropriate quality control procedures. Streamlining and improvement of data collection instruments Findings 182. Currently, many data collection forms are being applied to various types of schools for different occasions. On average, there are three to five forms for each type of school. This causes many difficulties in consolidation and maintenance, as well as in standardization of the data. 183. Design and layout of the questionnaires used for data collection are inefficient and lack clarity. Besides, questionnaires are not attached with adequate explanations, guidelines and instructions. 184. New questionnaire designs were developed under the SMOET project, and are being tested in some provinces. Although the mission team did not have a chance to make a thorough review, it seems a number of improvements have been done. However, still many forms for data collection in the new system suggest that the establishment has not carried out a complete revision of the collection tools. 185. Without proper collaboration and consultation with concerned staff at the Ministry, introducing a new data collection system without streamlining the old one has resulted in confusion and double data collection at the local level, which causes data inconsistency. Although new data items are collected in the new system, it is still unable to provide some of the data items required by the old system. That places additional burden on the local level, and at the same time, create inability to switch to the new system. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -48-Recommendations 186. The MOET should organize a technical consultative workshop with participants from various concerned personnel to: streamline and improve data collection instruments, ensure standard and comparable data sets, and reflect the needs of policy planning and management at both local and national levels. 187. Based on the outcomes and consensus from the workshop, data collection instruments should be revised. Schedule and approach of collection should be reconciled to avoid unnecessary duplication efforts. 188. It is necessary to define and develop a set of statistical indicators to be collected annually, which would serve the needs of national and local education planning and policy formulation, as well as fulfil the international requirement to monitor global developmental goals. However, data collection to produce the indicators should be feasible, and should not overburden the data providers, especially at the local and school levels. Simple, user-friendly, and efficient data processing and analysis software Findings 189. There is no standardized or systematic data entry software at the district and provincial levels. The questionnaires are all in the form of Excel sheets, which makes them difficult to use through a database and prevents coherence tests. 190. At the central level, there is a data compilation program written by Foxpro to consolidate the data sent by the provinces. It has only a few or no built-in data validation functions to check the consistency and reliability of the data. 191. The current database is not multi-annual, making it difficult to carry out longitudinal analyses. Also, this separate database for each year limits the possibilities for verification of data coherence one year to the next, which is an important means of data quality control. Consistency is clearly a weakness, since the EMIS application does not have a built-in component to check data across years. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -49-192. Existing software is mainly intended for data storage, and does not function for users at the district level as a tool for facilitating local information and planning needs. 193. In addition, there are no proper documentation and reference materials to make changes or to provide maintenance. 194. Along with its own data collection forms, the SMOET project has introduced new data entry software for the district level in order to set up a provincial-level database. However, it is still in the pilot stage and not yet fully implemented nationwide. 195. SMOET’s data entry software at the district level still uses Excel. One Excel file is used for each school, and each Excel file holds many sheets to store various school data. All these Excel files are later merged into an Access file to produce the district database. This pilot data entry software still has many bugs and, in some cases, all these separate Excel files cannot be merged. Furthermore, having many Excel files causes inexperienced district EMIS staff difficulty in assuring file consistency. In addition, there are very limited capacity-building activities and technical support for the district EMIS staff. 196. At the provincial level, an INFOMIX database platform is used to set up the provincial EMIS database. Lack of skilled technical staff, along with an ambitious and very technically-dependent EMIS database design, casts high doubt over sustainability and expansion of this model throughout the entire country. 197. Design and implementation of all these SMOET EMIS activities received very little involvement and consultation from the MOET statistical staff. Recommendations 198. The EMIS software should have a user-friendly interface and facilities for local needs, like for production of reports at the district level and for database querying to create customized reports or analyses. 199. Development of such a simplified interface for easy and flexible access to EMIS data would be one priority for future improvement of the system. It should also be sufficiently easy to deploy and use so as to be suitable for the district level, where those using the Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -50-system will be non-technicians. The success of EMIS decentralization at the local level will depend on the system’s ease of use of the system both in data processing and report generation. 200. The MOET should organize a technical review meeting with participants from provincial and district EMIS personnel to exchange experiences and lessons learned to improve the computerized EMIS. Usage of appropriate and standardized definitions, terminologies in education statistics Findings 201. Some terminologies for education statistical indicators are different from international standards. Different terms and terminologies are used in collection and interpretation of data; at the same time, in some cases, the same generic term is used to describe the two different sets of data. All these cause misunderstanding and confusion, which may also lead to unnecessary debate. For example: defining repeaters, comparing school attendance and enrolment rates, and comparing different enrolment rates from different sources without taking into account the nature or coverage of data. 202. During the diagnostic mission, it was discovered that most staff were not aware and had little knowledge about ISCED, which is critical for comparison of international statistics on education. This may be due to lack of documentation and poor knowledge transfer from previous staff. Recommendations 203. MOET should develop a guideline for standard definitions and methods of calculation for education indicators that are agreeable to all concerned partners at the national level. These standard definitions and methodologies should be used for all occasions of data collection and analysis. 204. With the support of UNESCO, the MOET should develop an ISCED mapping for Viet Nam’s education system that encompasses all types of institutions from all education sub-sectors. Major Findings of Diagnostic Study and Proposed Actions Socialist Republic of Viet Nam: Diagnostic Report of Education Statistics -51-Next Steps: Preparation of Action Plan 205. The Action Plan will identify and prioritise a set of actions needed to address the weaknesses identified by the diagnostic study. The Action Plan will be built on and around initiatives already underway or planned as part of existing programmes and other capacity-building initiatives. 206. The action plan will identify a coherent plan for capacity-building of education statistics, and will identify the costs associated with implementation of the plan. It will serve, therefore, as a basis for discussion with the local donor community, and for mobilizing additional resources as required to cover in-country costs associated with implementation of the plan. Conclusion This diagnostic study has helped to identify issues to be addressed in the area of education statistics. These need to be examined to see their relationship to a system-wide statistical development plan, and to ensure efforts aimed at capacity-building of education statistics are coordinated with and complementary to national system–wide efforts. It is only through addressing the issues together that sustained capacity can be built. This would include reorientation of the local level’s role and mandate to be more involved in EMIS activities, and allocation of an adequate operational budget to effectively carry out the necessary operations. Compared to other countries in the region, EMIS has a relatively good foundation in Viet Nam to serve the needs of all levels (from local to global). Political leaders realise the importance of information in the decision-making process, and attention has been given to improving the quality and availability of relevant data. Also, there exists ready support from local developmental partners to improve the existing situation. There is a clear and strong vision to decentralize EMIS at the local level to enable the planning and management of education services delivery. This decentralization needs to be matched with improved facilities/infrastructure and appropriate measures for better quality assurance of source data. Steps have been taken to this end regarding training of concerned staff. At the same time, a “culture of use” of statistical information, as well as evidence-based policy formulati