Digital Participation in Education Service Provision (MN0036)
Overview
At-a-Glance
Action Plan: Mongolia Action Plan 2019-2021
Action Plan Cycle: 2019
Status:
Institutions
Lead Institution: Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports
Support Institution(s): Capital City Education Department Capital City Information Technology Department Agency for Communication and Information Technology World Vision Mongolia, Democracy Education Center (DEMO)
Policy Areas
Education, Public Service DeliveryIRM Review
IRM Report: Mongolia Transitional Results Report 2019-2021, Mongolia Design Report 2019-2021
Early Results: No IRM Data
Design i
Verifiable: Yes
Relevant to OGP Values: Yes
Ambition (see definition): Low
Implementation i
Description
Main objective:
Enhance communication among parents, teachers and schools and enable environment for information exchange and monitoring through introduction of "School management" sub-system under "Education Management System" in all secondary schools
Brief description of commitment:
-Develop web portal and mobile application for "School Management sub-system" which is operating under Education Management System (EMS) to ensure participation of parents, teachers and the public, link to the EMS integrated database, portals and platforms .
-Develop and implement School Management subsystem for schools, parents and teachers on introducing digital services at the schools.
-Develop and implement capacity building module through School Management sub-system.
-Organize training advertisement, awareness raising, and advocacy for the communities.
Ambition:
Minimum 30% of parents and the communities actively participated in operations of schools
Milestones:
1. Research and analyzing sub-system
2. Develop School Management sub-system, prepare teacher's information section for parents and caretakers
3. Develop web portal for parents and caretakers
4. Develop mobile apps for parents and caretakers
5. E-content
6. Finalization and implementation/introduction
IRM Midterm Status Summary
2. Enable digital engagement of parents and community in operations of schools
- Develop web portal and mobile application for School Management Subsystem which is operating under the Education Management System (EMS) to ensure participation of parents, teachers, and the public, link to the EMS integrated database, portals, and platforms.
- Develop and implement School Management Subsystem for schools, parents, and teachers on introducing digital services at the schools.
- Develop and implement capacity building module through School Management Subsystem.
- Organize training, advertisement, awareness raising, and advocacy for the communities.
Main Objective
Enhance communication among parents, teachers, and schools, and enable environment for information exchange and monitoring through introduction of School Management Sub-System under the Education Management System in all secondary schools.
Milestones
- Research and analyzing subsystem.
- Develop School Management Subsystem/prepare teachers’ information section for parents and caretakers.
- Develop web portal for parents and caretakers.
- Develop mobile apps for parents and caretakers.
- E-content.
- Finalization and implementation/introduction.
Editorial Note: For the complete text of this commitment, please see Mongolia’s action plan at https://www.opengovpartnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Mongolia_Action-Plan_2019-2021.pdf.
IRM Design Report Assessment | |
Verifiable: | Yes |
Relevant: | Access to Information, Civic Participation |
Potential Impact: | Minor |
Commitment analysis
This commitment aims to improve the quality of education by facilitating community engagement in education management by connecting parents and guardians of students, teachers, and school management through a digital system across schools at the secondary level. Mongolia’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Science, and Sports, as well as the Capital City Authorities of Ulaanbaatar, will be responsible for the implementation of this commitment along with civil society stakeholders from World Vision Mongolia and the Democracy Education Center (DEMO).
Prior to this commitment, the government was already operating an Education Management System (EMS) which was established through a partnership with the Asian Development Bank (ADB). [8] This system, however, is limited to storing education data online and does not support or facilitate active public participation in education-related decision making. [9] Through this commitment, the government aims to introduce a School Management Subsystem (SMS) to the EMS to be used as a communication channel between citizens and schools, and facilitate public participation in the operational management of schools in Mongolia. Currently, many parents face difficulties interacting with their children’s schools in-person. Parents often need to travel long distances and cannot get the time off work. Resultantly, many public schools have social media pages where parents can get information and engage. However, it is difficult for parents to access records of their children’s grades. Some private schools have web portals that enable teachers, school administration, and parents to interact. This commitment seeks to create similar web portals across all public secondary schools. [10]
In 2012, DEMO launched its “Check My Service” initiative which used a community-based monitoring tool to assess transparency and responsiveness in a range of public services, including in public education (i.e. through the “Check My School” feedback portal). [11] Through the use of community score cards and iterative consultations that brought together service recipients and service providers, the initiative led to a number of concrete changes in service delivery. [12] In 2018, building on this success, DEMO, in partnership with the Ulaanbaatar City Governor’s office, introduced a mobile application under the initiative to allow citizens to submit complaints and petitions on the city’s local administration services. [13] In implementing this commitment, the IRM recommends that the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Sports explores opportunities for synergy with this initiative.
The commitment is relevant to the OGP value of access to information as it proposes to introduce a new subsystem with education-related information, to inform community participation in associated decisions. The portal is envisioned to house information such as students’ grades, the school budget, lesson content, and possibly information from the Ministry of Education. [14] The commitment is also relevant to the OGP value of civic participation as the objective of the commitment is to enhance communication among parents, teachers, and schools through the proposed system, and thus engage these stakeholders in collective decision making. The web portal and mobile app is intended to include the space for parents to comment on uploaded content and message teachers and school administrators. Ideally, unaddressed comments would be escalated up through the education administration. [15]
The commitment’s activities and milestones, including the development of the subsystem, web portal, mobile apps and e-content, are all generally verifiable. The commitment does not specify, however, the type of content to be uploaded on these portals or, crucially, how the portal will allow for community participation in decision making. Similarly, while the commitment proposes to finalize and implement the subsystem, it does not specify how such implementation will take place.
This commitment faces several limiting factors and challenges. First, the new subsystem and portals will be tested and implemented at five pilot secondary schools over the implementation period. [16] The commitment’s scope could be further enhanced if it outlined a clear process to roll-out and expand the subsystem beyond the pilot schools in the capital. Second, internet penetration in Mongolia in 2018 was still at 47 percent, [17] which means that more than half the population lacks access to the internet. Mobile penetration is slightly higher, with 55 percent of the population having mobile access in 2018. [18] These figures suggest a further limitation in the scope of this commitment. Finally, government ownership of the commitment may also prove to be a limiting factor. Civil society worked with representatives from the Ministry of Education and Finance to design the commitment. However, the representatives did not have decision-making power and therefore could not guarantee government action. Additionally, government turnover at the ministry level since the commitment was designed may also inhibit implementation. [19]
If fully implemented as written, this commitment would represent a positive, yet incremental step in improving the quality of education and education management. Stakeholders agree that the addition of a feature to the EMS, along with web and mobile portals, for parents to engage in education management could contribute to enhancing the quality of educational support that students receive. [20] The use of digital channels may also help to address traditional barriers to in-person participation, including inflexible work arrangements, geographical challenges, and access to public transportation. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced schools in Mongolia to shift entirely to online learning. This has required the Ministry of Education to provide e-content and for parents to turn to online channels to engage with their child’s learning. Therefore, the current crisis has increased the relevance of this commitment. [21] However, as the commitment does not specify the features of the sub-system or define how the portal will facilitate and promote community engagement, the full scope of this commitment is difficult to assess. Moreover, implementation plans are limited to the capital region and many Mongolians do not have internet access. For those who do, school Facebook pages already provide a platform for school-parent interaction.
Going forward, the Ministry of Education could conduct a survey of service users to determine what mode of engagement would be best suited to facilitate meaningful participation in education management. In particular, noting limitations around access to online and digital platforms, the government could explore offline mechanisms for community participation and engagement, including the use of in-person community forums, or the appointment of multistakeholder education councils, as proposed in Afghanistan. [22] Requiring schools and ministry officials to respond to parents’ comments and concerns would raise the level of ambition of this commitment. Likewise, education providers could be encouraged to respond publicly to common questions and concerns. A clear process for escalating unaddressed parent feedback through the Ministry of Education would also help to facilitate a strong feedback loop. The government could also explore ways to expand the scope and value of the system from being used only to encourage more engagement between school and parents, to a system where the public could oversee other important areas of school operations, such as budget allocation and spending, enrollment processes, and teacher recruitment. [23]
IRM End of Term Status Summary
2.Enable digital engagement of parents and community in operations of schools
Complete:
The Education Sector Information System (ESIS), including a website and app, was developed before the implementation period began. ESIS allows registered parents to receive daily updates on their children, monitor their children’s schedule and performance, exchange information with teachers, and organize community initiatives with other parents. [5] In complement to the commitment, the Democracy Education Center (DEMO) ran a pilot project in five schools in the capital to engage parents’ utilization of the portal during the implementation period. However, ESIS continues to suffer low user uptake, which DEMO attributes to parents’ preference for Facebook and WhatsApp in accessing information and sharing feedback. Particularly for low-income families, large internet packages are less affordable than data packages. [6]