Research conducted by Aapti Institute and Mozilla and funded by USAID has identified atleast eight challenges in India’s educational data ecosystem, like outdated processes and over-burdened teachers.

It also proposes eight recommendations for addressing those challenges, like deploying data specialists in rural areas and promoting open data principles.

The research, titled “Strengthening Data Ecosystems in Indian Schools,” explores how to responsibly leverage data like enrollment rates, student-teacher ratios, attendance, assessment results, and socio-economic information to shape education policies and interventions.

The investigation was carried out over the course of nine months by more than a dozen local experts and spanned 10 states. The Indian school education system includes over 1.49 million institutions, from grade schools to universities, and serves more than 265 million students.

Chris Burns, Chief Digital Development Officer at USAID said, “Globally, we’ve seen a rapid increase in the use of digital tools to drive development, but not as much emphasis on the reliability of the data underpinning such tools. Ensuring access to clean, participatory data is an essential component of our work to foster open, inclusive, secure and rights-respecting digital ecosystems that enable people to thrive.”

Meanwhile, Mehan Jayasuriya, Senior Program Officer at Mozilla added “India has one of the largest education systems in the world, and data plays an increasingly pivotal role in shaping its policies and interventions. When handled responsibly, this data can transform educational outcomes for the better. But there are also significant risks, from mismanagement to misuse. Our investigation explores how to unlock positive transformation while mitigating harms.”

Key highlights:

• Data collection model is labour-intensive and fraught with challenges due to paper-based records management.
• Teacher overburdened by Data entry sans monetary compensation.
• Both the states and the central government have legislative power over the educational sector, contributing to implementation challenges.
• Involvement of multiple stakeholders with data access and handling capabilities leaving room for data privacy and security risks.
• Data collection efforts are fragmented.
• Limited understanding of data’s potential beyond mere numbers
• Digital divide
• Poor coordination. (No engagement between the organisations behind India’s two largest educational surveys, the Ministry of Education’s NAS Survey and Pratham’s ASER) 

Also read: Are India’s youth ready for a Digital India? Evidence from ASER 2023