Nepal: Building an Information System for Efficiency Improvement.

Information systems are a necessary, but not sufficient, condition for improving the efficiency of educational systems. Improving the Education Management Information System must be the foundation of any long-term effort to enhance the efficiency of the Nepalese system. Three critical conditions must be met to enhance system efficiency (effectiveness compared with costs): (1) quality of the data must be ensured; (2) to become information, the data must be meaningful for those receiving it; and (3) information must have institutional channels for use in decision-making. Developing regular channels is difficult because persons or agencies may see no advantage in using the information or may perceive that it erodes their influence. Information may also be discounted because it contradicts other information or is difficult to incorporate given poorly developed decision-making processes. Even small investments in computer hardware and training can help overcome these limitations by ensuring that information is provided at critical moments in the decision-making process and by developing advocates of information use within decision-making institutions. Important steps have been taken, or can be, that meet the information needs of the Nepalese educational system. (TEJ)