British mathematician, Clive Humby, famously said in 2006 that “Data is the new oil.” Truly, companies of all sizes have drilled for and stored more and more data about their customers and business operations to drive performance and growth to reach their goals.
Today, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) demonstrated that it cannot be left behind in the new technological dispensation where data really calls the tune.
The 71-year-old showcased her understanding of this famous quote by Clive with the public unveiling of its innovative Education Statistics platform called EDUSTAT at the Nigeria National Headquarters, Yaba, Lagos.
EDUSTAT is an Artificial Intelligence driven platform designed by the Council in partnership with Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited, an ingenious indigenous software company, to ease access to quality data and insights in the educational sector.
As this implies, EDUSTAT is an innovative educational statistics platform designed to leverage WAEC’s comprehensive and reliable database of over 50 million candidates who have been tested over the years.
Setting the ball rolling, Mr. Patrick Ehidiamen Areghan, the Head of National Office, WAEC (Nigeria), explained the rationale behind the launching of EDUSTAT.
“This innovation was done to take the edge off the manual access to data by stakeholders, improve the quality of service delivery and generate more revenue for the Council. WAEC Nigeria again leverages technology, detailed data analysis and insights, to establish itself as a leading light in the educational sector and a future brand by introducing this Educational Statistical Platform.
“As you all know, the new world is smarter and more instant. The access to statistical data analysis, its collation, interpretation and presentation cannot be different. Businesses and organizations alike need every edge and advantage they can get to improve service delivery, thanks to the rapidly changing markets, economic uncertainties, shifting political landscape, customer-focus, and even the global Pandemic, which have made statistical analysis more sought-after by researchers, for fact analysis and findings.
“The West African Examinations Council is committed to its mission of remaining Africa’s foremost examining body, providing qualitative and reliable educational assessment, encouraging academic and moral excellence, and promoting sustainable human resource development and international cooperation. In meeting the growing global demands for corporate organisations, sometimes, it takes just one individual to come up with an innovative approach that gives the organisation a competitive edge. Still, more often than not, it requires the collaboration of various teams and the combination of many different data sources.”
Mr. Areghan added that as an examining body that has survived the centrifugal forces of the colonial era and remains the foremost examining body in the West African Sub-region, with a vast and rich database, it has become expedient to completely migrate from the manual way of interpreting data to a more sophisticated and advanced mode of data interpretation through technology.
Why EDUSTAT is a win-win for the Education Sector
For many stakeholders, lack of quality data has led to inconsistencies and multiple data copies in education.
“For others,” Areghan said, “incorrect data and the absence of analytics have led to false facts resulting in bad decisions-making and loss of revenue, in some cases.
“WAEC identified these issues and sought to solve the problem through its new EDUSTAT product, which addresses poor infrastructure and the manual process of assessing educational insights and statistics”.
Benefits of EDUSTAT
The Head of National Office, WAEC, further explained that “The new product, EDUSTAT, is borne out of the desire to provide stakeholders, such as researchers, funding agencies, government institutions, school administrators and parents with a reliable platform that provides educational insights collected from multiple sources and delivered in simplified graphs, summaries, and dashboards which help them enhance their decisions”.
The core benefit of EDUSTAT platform is access to a comprehensive interactive Web Report.
“Also, the platform offers detailed and smart statistical insights into education and assessment dynamics, using historical and current data to provide detailed intelligence for stakeholders across the globe, in a smart and easily accessible manner. One of the key features of this platform is its ability to analyze data in real-time”, he said.
This means that educators can get immediate feedback on how their students are performing, enabling them to adjust their teaching strategies as needed. Additionally, the platform is designed to be user-friendly and customizable, allowing educators to tailor it to their specific needs and preferences.
“This platform results from years of research, development, and collaboration, and we are confident that it will revolutionize how data is accessed”, he explained.
He reminded stakeholders who gathered at the ceremony that education is one of the most important investments “we can make as a society. It is the key to unlocking opportunities, improving our lives and driving economic growth”.
“However, to achieve the best outcomes for our students, we need to be able to measure and analyze educational data effectively. This is where the EDUSTAT platform comes in”.
He said this new platform seeks to change views about data analysis by providing users with easy-to-use tools to analyze and visualize data.
Also speaking, Mr. Chijioke Ekeh, the Managing Director of Sidmach Technologies Nig. Limited, applauded the management of the West African examinations body for their foresight in identifying the need to democratize education data for the benefit of the regional education sector and economies at large.
He pledged Sidmach’s continued support to achieve greater heights in the sector.
During a demo session, Mr. Akintunde Opawole, the Product Manager at Sidmach Technologies Nigeria Limited, said EDUSTAT offers a wide range of features that will benefit the user.
He collaborated on the statement by Mr. Areghan’s that the artificial intelligence-driven platform provides, for instance Government agencies, detailed statistics on student enrollment, graduation rates, and academic performance at various levels of government.
This information will help policy makers make data-driven decisions about education policy, funding, and program design.
For schools, the platform offers student-level data on academic performance, attendance, and demographic information.
This data can be used to identify areas of strengths and weaknesses within the school and inform decisions about how to improve student outcomes. Institutions such as universities and colleges can also benefit from the platform by accessing data on enrollment and academic performance of their students. This information can be used to identify areas where additional resources are needed to support students and improve overall performance.
Similarly, the platform provides researchers with a comprehensive and intuitive way to track and analyze educational statistics. It is designed to be accessible to educators at all levels, from classroom teachers to school administrators and policy makers.
With this platform, you can easily track student progress, identify areas of weakness, and make data-driven decisions to improve outcomes for all students.
Users of WAEC EDUSTAT can log on to https//.waec.edustat.ng to sign up, select parameters, select their preferred method of report generation (Summaries, Charts, Maps, Trends), make payments, download and use the content for personal / official purpose.
WACE and its partner, Sidmach Technologies, received accolades from stakeholders who gathered at the launch.
Some photos from the ceremony:
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