The education system in Lesotho has continued to benefit from increased efforts to improve access and encourage inclusion. However, significant obstacles remain that continue to impede the sector’s overall growth. A key challenge is low participation at school due to high dropout rates and no participation at all as some children have never been to school. There are more unqualified teachers than qualified teachers in Lesotho’s rural schools, resulting in resource gaps that span all three dimensions—financial, physical, and human. Weakness in data management and use undermines the ability to respond to these challenges. The quality of decisions made by the executive and senior management, the relevance of curriculum offered at schools and school inspection models lack rigor as they are often not based on concrete data and evidence.
Understanding challenges and learning from peers to improve data practices
As one of the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub consortium partners, the African Union established a community of practice on data systems strengthening, the ‘GPE KIX Data Challenge,’ in July 2021 through the Pan-African Institute for Education for Development (AU-IPED).
The community of practice embraced the spirit of knowledge exchange by serving as a collective learning space and platform for collaboration among partner countries to strengthen national data management and use processes.
During the community of practice session, Lesotho benefited significantly from Kenya’s intervention on strengthening its education management information system (EMIS) information and communications technology (ICT) infrastructure ecosystem.
Furthermore, the Ministry of Education and Training of Lesotho sought support from the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub to address the widening gap between national education policy goals and the realities on the ground focused on data collection and use.
The assessment was based on the African Union EMIS Norms and Standards Assessment Framework.
The framework helped member states of the African Union evaluate their national EMIS processes, find gaps, and hold peer reviews that encourage knowledge sharing and learning. Members of the GPE KIX data community of practice later looked over it to make sure it was in line with the continent’s education plan after 2015, which includes new priorities like cybersecurity and modern technology infrastructure. Following this review, GPE KIX partner countries were trained on how to use the framework both for national self-assessments and for conducting peer reviews of other countries.
The GPE KIX Data Challenge learning visit to Lesotho emphasized the importance of having access to and making use of high-quality data for planning, evaluation, and management decision making. Data use had been confined to addressing the reporting requirements of external international stakeholders and ministries of education rarely consulted the EMIS office for their own use, instead conducting narrowly focused surveys or censuses to inform decisions to address emerging challenges.
The necessity for EMIS to have a policy, strategy, and legislation in place—including cybersecurity laws and regulations—was yet another lesson learned during the learning trip to Lesotho. Likewise, it was noted how important it is to strengthen the competencies of the planning department on the legalization of data management and warehousing to ensure effective managing of the evolving system.
Digitizing teacher management and learning development
Although Lesotho’s EMIS has been strengthened through the GPE KIX Data Challenge community of practice, the absence of a robust teacher management system continues to hinder the ability to track teachers and monitor teaching quality.
In response to this gap, the Ministry of Education and Training of Lesotho once again turned to the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub for support.
A recent learning visit to Zambia, organized by another consortium partner, the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa (IICBA)—alongside representatives from 7 other GPE KIX partner countries—focused on designing effective continuous professional development programs for teachers and establishing a functional teaching council.
The Hub helped facilitate a partnership with Zambia’s Ministry of Education to introduce a teacher management information system in Lesotho following the visit. The introduction of this tool seeks more effective management and provision of continuous professional development for teachers.
Lesotho’s education system is progressing with the help of the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub through the evolution of EMIS and the creation of a teacher management information system, which strengthen data systems and make it possible for more policies that are based on evidence. Equally valuable are the opportunities to exchange and learn from peers across the continent.
Through conferences, webinars and communities of practice, colleagues from Lesotho’s ministry of education, including myself, have gained practical insights from other countries’ experiences.
These exchanges show how important it is for the Hub to foster collaboration and build capacity to solve problems, improve education in Lesotho and partner nations.
