By The Taraba State Government has introduced a real-time electronic system for collecting and managing school data to improve planning, transparency, and accountability in the education sector.
Chairperson of the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), Christiana Binga, announced the development during the launch of a training workshop on the Basic Education Management Information System (BEMIS) for the 2024/2025 Annual School Census in Jalingo.
She explained that the new digital platform replaces the traditional manual method, reducing errors and enhancing efficiency in data collection, management, and reporting.
The three-day “train the trainers” workshop brought together 70 participants from the 16 local government areas of the state. It was organised by SUBEB in collaboration with the State Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education.
Binga noted that the census would cover three academic sessions—2023–2024, 2024–2025, and 2025–2026—and described it as vital for evidence-based planning, policy formulation, and resource allocation.
She added that enumerators would use Android phones and tablets to collect data directly from schools, ensuring accuracy and strengthening the credibility of information gathered.
The Chairperson urged participants to take the training seriously, as they would be responsible for passing on the knowledge to others involved in the statewide exercise. She also appreciated Governor Agbu Kefas for approving the programme and commended the Commissioner for Education, Augustina Godwin, for supporting improved data management.
Speaking at the event, Godwin highlighted the importance of reliable data in educational planning and disclosed that the state would soon migrate from BEMIS to the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), a federal digital platform for school census data.
She added that further training would be provided with support from the Federal Ministry of Education and UNICEF.
In his goodwill message, the State Coordinator of the Universal Basic Education Commission, Hamidu Raji, praised Taraba for promptly implementing federal education policies and programmes, noting that the state recently accessed matching grants after fulfilling its counterpart funding obligations.
Officials said monitoring mechanisms would be established to ensure effective implementation of the data collection process across the state.
