SIGES: A step toward the digital transformation of El Salvador's education system

Montevideo, December 18, 2020.

The Ministry of Education of El Salvador has a new information system that centralizes, manages, collects, and monitors data from the national education system, which will contribute to data-based decision-making for timely planning, design, and implementation of educational programs or projects in favor of the girls, boys, and adolescents of El Salvador.

The consultancy "Design and implementation of an educational management system for the Ministry of Education of El Salvador" has come to an end, marking various milestones reached during these 36 months of execution, whose main result is the implementation of the Educational Management Information System of El Salvador (SIGES), an information system that centralizes student data nationwide from different education levels (Initial Education, Preschool Education, Basic Education, and Middle Education) across different modes of service (Regular, Flexible, and Family Community Pathway).

This system replaced 14 information systems previously used by the Ministry of Education (MINED), where this government agency took a significant step toward its digital transformation and data management through an integral system that consolidates information uniquely.

This system was designed, developed, and implemented with the technical and financial support of FOMILENIO II and the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), along with a counterpart from the government of El Salvador, under the consulting firm Sofis Solutions, developed for the Ministry of Education of El Salvador (MINED), which will directly benefit the educational community, parents, guardians, and the general public.

SIGES has generated a positive impact both institutionally and nationally, as this information system led to changes in some procedures and processes managed by different hierarchical levels of the institution. At the same time, it fostered closer interaction between the staff of educational centers and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT).

It also significantly improved data quality through unique data registration, thus avoiding duplication of student information.

Furthermore, it allows real-time monitoring of educational indicators that will serve for timely decision-making in circumstances that may affect the Salvadoran educational community. Likewise, processes directed at the general public were digitized to save costs and time as part of the institution's strategy to broaden its alternatives.

The SIGES information system has a modular design; starting from the 3 main modules Students, Teachers, and Educational Centers, complementary modules were built such as: Integrated Systems, School Infrastructure, Property Legalization, Fixed Assets, Online Procedures, Historical Records, School Finances, and Management Information System.

Summary video about the SIGES project, available on the YouTube channel Sofis Latinoamérica: https://youtu.be/jMDMh4LLijg.

During the consultancy development, significant results were obtained, among which stand out:

• Digitization of the Academic Historical Record: 1,858 books containing grades and/or certificates of student titles from Basic and Middle Education, almost 30 years old, specifically from 1980 to 2008, were digitized. Of these, 1,000 books correspond to Middle Education and 858 books to Basic Education. Additionally, a quality control process was included, divided into the following stages: verification of book completeness, verification of the number of scanned pages, verification of the legibility of selected pages, and verification of the search. Moreover, the digitization of the institution's Historical Record was integrated into the School Documentation Module, facilitating information searches without resorting to physical documents and significantly improving waiting times for user-managed procedures.
• Development of mobile applications: As part of the consultancy, 2 mobile applications were designed and developed: one aimed at teachers and the other at parents and guardians of the student. The first, the SIGES Teachers App, allows registering and viewing student attendance for a section, as well as detecting possible early warnings of student dropout. The second is the SIGES Family Guardians App, which allows real-time viewing and consulting of each student's academic information and generates a direct communication channel between guardians and the educational center.
• Enabling Online Procedures: 28 procedures linked to students, teaching activities, educational centers, and the School Administration Body (OAE) were incorporated. This procedure or activity allows the general public to perform procedures from anywhere at any time without needing to travel to a Ministry of Education office.
• Incorporation of verifiable QR code: Since the 2019 academic year, a verifiable QR code has been incorporated into the printing of Middle Education diplomas. This means the code can be scanned via a mobile device, confirming the student's information and the diploma's authenticity.
• Incorporation of Simple Electronic Signature: Starting this year 2020, electronic signatures were incorporated into internal documents issued by SIGES, implying significant simplification of processes, reduced document delivery times, and paper savings. Through this tool, users can confirm enrollment, confirm section and academic year closure, promotions, grades, requests, and acceptance of student transfers.
• Enabling public information tools: In 2019, 3 portals containing public information for consultation by the general public were enabled, among them:
• Educational Centers Portal: Contains general and specific information about official and private educational centers nationwide.
• Educational Centers Map: Allows the search for educational centers nationwide through georeferencing.
• Open Data Portal: Allows downloading data extracted from SIGES, which can be manipulated as microdata.

According to Ms. Soledad Cardenal, Education Quality Manager at FOMILENIO II, "SIGES is a cutting-edge information system, with nothing to envy from other international systems. It is designed with the best technology and with the peculiarity that it can be modified and adapted according to the information needs that may arise in the future. FOMILENIO II is proud of the legacy it leaves to its strategic partner MINEDUCYT and how the design and implementation of this great information system was managed."

"SIGES constitutes a fundamental tool for improving educational management at all MINED levels (central, departmental, educational center, and classroom) and implies a change in the management model (…) As a consulting firm, we extend thanks to all participants, the Salvadoran educational community, and the authorities of FOMILENIO II and MINED for all the support received to make SIGES a reality", says Eng. Gustavo Cirigliano, SIGES project coordinator and CEO of Sofis Solutions.

At the close of the SIGES consultancy, the following results were obtained: more than 4,000,000 students are registered in SIGES, of which 1,300,000 have active enrollment.

In the 2019 academic year, 190,000,000 attendances and absences were recorded, more than 80,000,000 grades, more than 8,000 educational centers, more than 40,000 teachers in the ranking registry, more than 100,000 users created for parents and guardians, more than 1,800,000 assets registered in fixed assets, more than 40 integrated systems, more than 6,800 properties, and more than 280,000 digitized images from the historical record.

To learn more about this project developed by Sofis Solutions, visit the site: https://siges.sv/inicio or watch the following reference video:  https://youtu.be/EoUnrgdb72Y.