The Lesotho education system has continued to benefit from increased efforts aimed at enhancing access and promoting inclusion. However, significant challenges persist that continue to hinder the sector’s overall development.

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. Resource gaps cut across financial, physical and human categories: in rural schools in Lesotho, there are more unqualified than qualified teachers.

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 supported African Union member states to assess their national EMIS processes, identify gaps and conduct peer reviews that foster knowledge exchange and learning.

It was later reviewed by GPE KIX data community of practice members to align with the post-2015 education agenda for the continent, incorporating emerging priorities such as 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 in Lesotho emphasized the need for availability and use of quality data as a core principle for planning, monitoring and 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.

Another lesson from the learning visit to Lesotho was the need for EMIS to have a policy, strategy and legislation in place, including cybersecurity laws and regulations.

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.

Following the visit, the Hub facilitated a partnership with the Ministry of Education of Zambia to introduce a teacher management information system in Lesotho. The introduction of this tool seeks more effective management and provision of continuous professional development for teachers.

With support from the GPE KIX Africa 19 Hub, Lesotho’s education system is advancing through the evolution of EMIS and the development of a teacher management information system, which both strengthen data systems and enable more evidence-based policies.

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 demonstrate the Hub’s critical role in fostering collaboration and building capacity to address challenges and improve education in Lesotho as well as partner countries.