Open Data in Education Sector (MD0064)

Ensuring transparency in the activity of public administration and access to public information
3.1. Assessing the needs of all open data beneficiaries in the education sector
3.2. Inventory of existing open data in the education sector in relation to identified needs, as well as their collection, publication and updating on the data.gov.md portal
3.3. Developing a web interface within the Open Government Portal with the possibility of interactive viewing of data in the education sector
3.4. Implementing activities to promote the availability of open data in the education sector, according to the internal communication plan
Responsible institution: Ministry of Education1
Supporting institution(s): None
Start date: 3rd quarter 2017. End date: 2nd quarter 2018

3a. Open data in education sector

Commitment Text:

Title: Ensuring transparency in the activity of public administration and access to public information

3.1. Assessing the needs of all open data beneficiaries in the education sector

3.2. Inventory of existing open data in the education sector in relation to identified needs, as well as their collection, publication and updating on the data.gov.md portal

3.3. Developing a web interface within the Open Government Portal with the possibility of interactive viewing of data in the education sector

3.4. Implementing activities to promote the availability of open data in the education sector, according to the internal communication plan

Responsible institution: Ministry of Education[Note136: Open Budget Survey 2017, https://www.internationalbudget.org/wp-content/uploads/moldova-open-budget-survey-2017-summary.pdf]

Supporting institution(s): None

Start date: 3rd quarter 2017. End date: 2nd quarter 2018

Editorial Note: For the purpose of the IRM report, commitment three was broken up into two separate commitments (see details in the General Overview of Commitments section). These four commitment activities focus on assuring public access to useful education information. Additionally, the 'Open Government Portal' mentioned in the action plan is actually referring to the Open Data Portal (date.gov.md).

Context and Objectives

In 2016, the government started the implementation of a World Bank-supported project[Note137: http://lex.justice.md/md/342699/], building the capacities of the previously developed Educational Management Information System (EMIS), to facilitate public access to data and statistics on the primary and secondary education system.

The commitment aims to 1) assess the needs of open data beneficiaries, 2) publish, update and establish an inventory of data on data.gov.md, 3) develop a web interface on data.gov.md, and 4) promote availability of open data according to the internal plan. These activities were duplicated from the third phase of the 'Building Capacity - EMIS Project' which focused on opening data in the education sector.[Note138: T.Savva, Expert Grup NGO, personal communication, 21 December 2017.] By updating education data on a publicly accessible portal, this commitment is relevant to the OGP values of access to information and technology and innovation.

Overall specificity of this commitment is medium: despite the clearly articulated activities, there is ambiguity surrounding how open data users’ needs will be assessed and what actions will be taken to promote open data. Also, while not made explicit in the commitment text, the education data will be accessible on the EMIS system, which will be also interlinked with the Open Data Portal (data.gov.md), an understanding among relevant stakeholders interviewed by the IRM researcher.[Note139: Open Budget Survey 2017, https://www.internationalbudget.org/wp-content/uploads/moldova-open-budget-survey-2017-summary.pdf]

If fully implemented this commitment could have a minor potential impact. An interviewed civil society stakeholder[Note140: The main NGOs and think tanks monitoring the process are IDIS Viitorul, Expert Grup, AGER, but also mass media organizations and outlets: Center for Independent Journalism, Independent Press Association, Ziarul de Garda newspaper, etc.] stated that the practice of updating education data on the platform is not yet mainstream. While publishing and updating data on data.gov.md represents a positive step toward improving access to information, it is not sufficiently clear if this commitment adds significant value to ongoing efforts.

Completion

At the end of the first year, the implementation of the commitment is limited, and commitment activity 3.3 is behind schedule. While not explicitly listed as a commitment activity, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Research (MECC) launched the beta version of the EMIS system on 28 July 2017.

According to MECC, the needs of the education data users, such as parents, were assessed by a local sociological company, CBS Axa (3.1). The IRM researcher was unable to verify the completion of this research, however, since the report is not available to the public. According to MECC, the research was conducted in January 2017. The government self-assessment states that a study was conducted, with the support of the World Bank’s International Development Association, on open educational data. Based on the results, the EMIS system was reconfigured to collect and open data without violating the data requirements imposed by the law on the protection of personal data. However, this study is not publicly available and the IRM researcher was unable to verify its results.

The inventory of the available open data was conducted by MECC, with a contracted IT company, in an attempt to explore the technical capacities of the old system (3.2). A working group was created within MECC which identified, based on the data users’ needs assessment, the set of data which should be opened, according to the legislation on the protection of personal data. Additionally, an evaluation[Note141: T.Savva, Expert-Grup NGO, personal communication, 21 December 2017.] of the MECC’s statistical capability, e.g. data collection process, indicators, and open data catalog, was posted on the MECC website.[Note142: According to Law No. 181 on public finance and budgetary - fiscal responsibilities, the national public budget includes the consolidated central budget and the local budgets.] The open data catalogue includes an extensive list of categories and types of open data which shall be constantly collected and updated on the EMIS platform. The location of the evaluation report on the ministry website is not straightforward. Also, it is not yet clear if the sets of data from the catalog will be available via the EMIS platform and also via the data.gov.md platform, or which data will be transferred from the EMIS platform to data.gov.md.

The development of a web interface on the Open Data Portal (data.gov.md) has been delayed due to technical issues related to the testing of the EMIS platform (3.3). Although the two platforms are separate, the Open Data Portal interface relies on data from EMIS. According to the self-assessment, EMIS now allows for interactive viewing of education data and the extraction of data in both textual and graphic forms.[Note143: Ministry of Finance, http://mf.gov.md/ro]

In 2017, in order to promote the availability of open data (3.4), MECC has organized TV interviews discussing the new system.[Note144: Ministry of Education, Culture and Research, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration, Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Economy and Infrastructure, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Protection, Ministry of Agriculture, Regional Development and Environment] Due to the ambiguity surrounding the 'internal communication plan,' as written in the action plan, the assessment of this activity’s completion cannot be higher than limited.

While not explicitly mentioned in the action plan text, more than 10,000 government stakeholders in the secondary education system were trained on how to use the EMIS platform and update data.[Note145: V. Morari, Department of Penitentiary Institutions, personal communication, 12 January 2018.] However, there are no publicly available monitoring reports on their performance.

Next Steps

The IRM researcher recommends this commitment be continued into the second year of implementation. Specifically, the government should consider the following:

· Establish a system to monitor the quality of data published on the platform considering the amount of data which is planned to be collected in real time.

· Clearly differentiate data to be published on the EMIS platform and open data published on data.gov.md. This clarification will avoid the publication of duplicate information, and avoid misleading the public.

· Promote the public comments tool on the Open Data Portal establish a feedback mechanism to allow direct beneficiaries (parents, students, teachers) on the EMIS system.

3.a Open data in education sector

Commitment Text:

Title: Ensuring transparency in the activity of public administration and access to public information

3.1. Assessing the needs of all open data beneficiaries in the education sector

3.2. Inventory of existing open data in the education sector in relation to identified needs, as well as their collection, publication and updating on the data.gov.md portal

3.3. Developing a web interface within the Open Government Portal with the possibility of interactive viewing of data in the education sector

3.4. Implementing activities to promote the availability of open data in the education sector, according to the internal communication plan

Responsible Institution: Ministry of Education [84]

Supporting Institution: N/A

Start Date: 3rd quarter 2017

End Date: 2nd quarter 2018

Editorial Note: For the purpose of the IRM report, commitment three was broken up into two separate commitments (see details in the General Overview of Commitments section). These four commitment activities focus on assuring public access to useful education information. Additionally, the “Open Government Portal” mentioned in the action plan is actually referring to the Open Data Portal (date.gov.md).

Commitment Aim:

In 2016–2017, the government implemented a World Bank-supported project, [85] aiming to modernize the capacities of the previously developed Educational Management Information System (EMIS) and thus facilitate public access to data, statistics, and reports on primary and secondary education. This commitment focused on the assessment of the needs of open data beneficiaries; the publication, update and establishment of an inventory of data on date.gov.md; the development of a web interface on date.gov.md; and the promotion of the availability of open data according to the internal activity plan of the implementing institutions. These activities were duplicated in the OGP action plan from the third phase of the “Building Capacity - EMIS” Project. [86]

Status

Midterm: Limited

The implementation of commitment activities, as written in the action plan, was limited. While the launch of the modernized EMIS system was not one of the activities included in the plan, the other activities were linked to development and implementation of this system, as explained by the current, externally contracted EMIS coordinator. [87] The Ministry of Education, Culture and Research (MECC) launched the beta version of the modernized EMIS system on 28 July 2017. [88]

Under activity 3.1, both the government and the EMIS coordinator confirmed that in January 2017 the Center for Sociological and Marketing Investigations, CBS Axa, was contracted to conduct a needs assessment of education open data users. The IRM researcher was unable to verify the completion of this research since the report is not available to the public. The results of the study informed the reconfiguration/modernization of the EMIS system, a project focusing on strengthening the capacities of the EMIS system, supported by the World Bank. Also, the MECC conducted an inventory of the available open data and of the data still to be opened in 2017 (3.2). The development of an interactive web interface on the Open Data Portal (date.gov.md), however, was not achieved due to technical issues linked to the testing of the EMIS platform (3.3). Under the 3.4 activity, MECC organized media and promotional events, such as television interviews, to inform society about the new system and promote the availability of open data. [89] More details are provided in the IRM midterm report.

End of term: Substantial

The modernization of the Educational Management Information System (EMIS) took place between 2016–2017 as part of a wider World Bank project called the “Education Reform in Moldova” Project, which includes an investment loan to be implemented between 2013–2020. [90] The activities introduced in the action plan, though not explicitly linked to EMIS, were elements of the “Strengthening the capacities of the EMIS system” project. [91] Most activities were thus conducted in the first year of implementation, and the government confirmed their implementation in the self-assessment. The IRM researcher was unable to verify the completion of the assessment of the education sector open data needs as the report produced by CBS Axa was not available to the public. Development of a web interface within the Open Government Portal (3.3), which would allow interactive visualization of education sector data, as written in the action plan, might have been referring to the actual modernization of the EMIS system, which includes this interactive visualization of primary and secondary education data, rather than a functionality on the portal itself. Additionally, in the government Self-Assessment Report, [92] the description of the completion of this milestone is described in terms of the EMIS system and not of an interface developed on date.gov.md. The intention of the Ministry of Education is to make this the sole system for education sector data. [93] As there is no interactive interface on the Open Government Portal, however, this milestone is not considered completed.

Under activity 3.4, the Ministry of Education planned to implement promotion activities focused on the availability of education sector open data. These activities were organized after the launching of the modernized EMIS system at the end of July 2017. Smartlink, a public relations firm, was contracted within the World Bank project [94] to conduct the promotion campaign focused on EMIS and education sector open data, which included interviews with beneficiaries, TV interviews, [95] and booklets published and shared among direct beneficiaries (education sector stakeholders). The campaign represented one of the World Bank activities and was financially supported by them.

The EMIS consultant [96] considers that the promotion of the system should be actively continued by the ministry, which should organize promotion activities at least once per month. When the new modules have been implemented, another promotion campaign, from national sources, will be conducted.

Did It Open Government?

Access to Information: Major

Prior to the action plan, information on schools in Moldova was accessible through the Ministry of Education, which relied on paper-based systems (though in recent years computers were extensively used), and there was no dedicated system in place. The commitment sought to improve the quality and types of data opened from the education sector. In modernizing the EMIS system, an interactive interface was developed allowing the handling of data and generation of reports, application of data filters, etc. Moreover, citizens and all interested actors, including stakeholders from the education sector (teachers, parents, school managers), have access to accurate and up-to-date information about each school in the country.

One of the aspects noted by the IRM researcher in the midterm report was the name of the EMIS webpage (https://www.sime.md:8443/), which was difficult to search for without the exact URL. The EMIS consultant stated that the Ministry and the coordination team were aware of the obstacle a complicated URL might represent. However, this is a compliance aspect, as EMIS was transferred to MCloud in May 2017 [97] at the request of the World Bank. [98] Moreover, according to the new amendments to the law on MCloud from May 2018, [99] public authorities have to migrate their local informational systems to MCloud and not hold physical servers. MCloud is a governmental cloud technology platform. [100] Additionally, each Ministry is assigned a single IP address which restricts the use/creation of separate webpages for certain functionalities. Therefore, the difficult URL represents an outcome of the governmental requirements. Nonetheless, the intention was to update its name to facilitate public access to the platform [101], which can now be accessed under https://sime.md.

Carried Forward?

This commitment is carried forward in the new action plan under the ensuring access to information commitment (commitment 1), and the plan foresees the development and implementation of two additional modules focusing on vocational and preschool education. The modernization of the EMIS project will continue in 2019 with the support of the World Bank. [102]

In the modernized EMIS system data are updated three times per year. [103] Moreover, an interconnection with the personal identification number in the system was implemented to ensure efficient tracking of enrolled students.