Kumasi (Ashanti Region) 15 Jan. '99

Twelve selected districts in Ashanti, Central and Northern regions are to benefit from a two-year pilot Education Management Information Systems (EMIS) project designed to collect, process, analyse and document data on basic education in the country. The project forms part of the Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) programme, Mr Thomas Coleman of the EMIS project disclosed this after a day's workshop on data collection for decision makers and stakeholders in education in Kumasi Wednesday. Mr Coleman said the project is being undertaken by the Institute for International Development of Harvard University in the United States with support from the World Bank. He said in Ashanti, the project will cover the regional education office, the Kumasi metropolis, Adansi East and Asante Akim North districts. In the Central region, Mr Coleman named the regional education office, as well as Assin, Awutu-Effutu-Senya and Mfantsiman districts as the beneficiaries, while the regional education office, Tamale Municipality, West Mamprusi and the West Gonja Districts have been selected in the Northern Region. He said the project goes with the provision of equipment and the training of officers to handle them, adding that it is also going to train personnel in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Mr Coleman said results from the selected districts will be out by August, this year, and will be expanded to cover the whole country by 2001. Mr Thomas D. Leblanc, EMIS Project Manager, who took the participants through the workshop, said the project will train a cadre of policy analysts who will be capable of preparing and submitting policy briefs on schools.