Information is the basis of management, planning and evaluation of an education system. During the education management process, the education management information system (EMIS) should inform the different actors and partners on the state of the sector, its internal and external efficiency, its pedagogical and institutional operation, its performance, shortcomings and needs. A solid information system should not only aim to collect, store data and process information but help in the formulation of education policies, their management and their evaluation. Like any therapy, a plan should be based on a precise and exact diagnosis if it is to be effective. Problems should be identified through a detailed and critical analysis in order to be able to propose solutions.

The definition of objectives, the choice of strategies and policy decisions should be based on objective data. Many countries have an education database based on school censuses and/or ad hoc surveys. However, the relevance and quality of data are yet to be improved in most cases.  

Often, even in countries where EMISs are available, they are hardly used to guide education policies. This is partly a problem of presentation: the data are published in raw form in statistical yearbooks without any accompanying analysis. Policy and decision-makers and other planning managers need clear, easy to interpret comprehensible documents, accompanied by relevant analyses on which to base their policies.

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Information tools for the preparation and monitoring of education