This community innovation has been accepted at the 2025 DHIS2 Annual Conference
Leveraging DHIS2 & Data Integration for Zero OOSC
Over 250 million children globally remain out of school, with one in ten primary aged children excluded from education due to systemic barriers like poverty, conflict, and gender inequality. To address this, accurate identification and enrolment of out of school children (OOSC) are crucial. However, fragmented data systems and limited resources in low income countries hinder these efforts. Integrated data systems linking health and education sectors offer a transformative solution. Educate A Child (EAC), a global programme under the Education Above All Foundation, has partnered with Save the Children in Rwanda and UNICEF in The Gambia to implement innovative approaches and tackle this challenge. Both initiatives use DHIS2 based solutions to operationalise EAC’s Zero OOSC strategy, focusing on multi sectoral collaboration and technology to enrol and retain marginalised children. In Rwanda, the Waliku system, built on DHIS2 and integrated into the national School Education Management Information System, was piloted in 30 schools. DHIS2-powered dashboards allow educational authorities to monitor student progression and identify learners at risk of dropout. These data-driven insights support targeted interventions, improving OOSC enrolment and retention. In The Gambia, EAC and UNICEF, in partnership with the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education, have enhanced the national education system with a mobile application and comprehensive enrolment database, integrating birth registration data from the Ministry of Health. This strengthens evidence-based planning, generating dynamic data to improve real-time OOSC tracking. These initiatives demonstrate the transformative potential of DHIS2-powered interoperability in addressing the OOSC crisis. At DHIS2 2025, EAC and its partners will showcase these innovations, offering actionable insights on leveraging data integration to design, implement, and scale inclusive education systems.
Primary Author: Noor Ansari
Keywords:
out-of-school children; Zero OOSC; data integration; enrolment; retention; inclusive education; quality education; primary education
1 Like