Abu Dhabi, 26 May 2010 (WAM) - The principals of Abu Dhabi schools lauded the ICT projects and initiatives launched and implemented in their schools by Abu Dhabi Education Council (ADEC) which included the Electronic Student Information System (eSIS), the Geographic Information System (GIS), and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and the internal portal site.

As the orientation organized by ADEC for the Principals concluded at Fairmont Bab Al Bahr Hotel, and it was attended by Dr. Mugheer Khamis Al-Khaili, Director General of ADEC, Mr. Mohammad Salem Al-Dhaheri, Executive Director of School Operations and more than 300 school principals, the principals pointed out that these projects will help achieve a dramatic improvement in the educational system in the Emirate. The implementation of the new applications will ensure efficient data management, reliable information storage and easy access to students records which will facilitate the students assessment process.

The electronic systems will also enable the development and analysis of data, supporting the decision-making process related to educational issues, they added.

Abdullah Al Hamadi, Principal of Hamdan Bin Mohammed Secondary School, said that the ICT initiatives will provide schools with an access to the latest school administration technologies. "The eSIS platform will help us record student grades, attendance and other relevant student information. The platform can also assist with administrative tasks, such as school transfers, and new student registration," he added.

"These projects will help facilitate communication between the teaching and administrative staff and parents by maximizing the efficiency of communication networks in the school", said Mohammed Amin Al Zaraouni, Principal of Sultan bin Zayed School in Al Ain. "We will be able to achieve our goals and obtain the necessary information needed to analyze student results in a timely manner and to make the appropriate decisions", he added.

Abdulla Mohammed Al Awzali, Principal of Abu Bakr Al Siddiq School, said "the new initiatives are very helpful to the schools and the community. I would like to thank ADEC for introducing up-to-date technologies that will enable us to effectively oversee all aspects of the learning environment. Thanks to these advanced systems, we will be able to monitor daily attendance, receive applications and transfer data, which would enhance the effectiveness of administration and reduce the use of paper at schools".

"The new initiatives are great; however, extensive training is needed to equip school teachers and administrators with all the tools and knowledge required to use the new systems" said Dr. Hassan Al Hosani, Principal of Abdullah bin Otaiba School. "Therefore, the state-of-the-art applications and data management systems should be simple and easy to use in order to help streamline the storage and access to information pertaining to student records", he added.

Hassan Youssef Al Arifi, Principal of Al Samalia School, agreed that all of the school community will benefit from the latest technologies introduced and implemented at schools. "Registration approvals and data transfer can now be managed online, which leads to improving efficiency and eliminating the need to send paper files between schools and the educational zone authorities," he added.

Mahfouza Al Nowais, Principal of Al Yarmouk School, pointed out that the new ICT projects will provide schools and parents with an integrated database that contains information about all schools in Abu Dhabi, to include their geographic locations, student results, statistics and cycles. "The GIS will help parents select the appropriate school for their children in terms of location and classroom density", she added.

"The impressive GIS enables users to find all public schools in the emirate easily and to view student and teacher statistics. The portal will enable parents to become more involved in their childrens education and will support direct communication with schools and teachers," said Khawla Al Zaabai, Principal of Al Maha Girls School.

The ERP system will effectively support online human resource management, and payroll functions. Thanks to the online self-service functions, ADEC staff can follow up all HR-related issues from any location, including leave applications, requesting work-related certificates and letters and many other services. There are currently 15,002 users registered in the system who are engaged in more than 57,000 transactions using the employee self-service tool. ADEC has trained school principals on the new applications for 6 hours.

ADECs new internal portal provides intranet users with a number of services and applications that improve work efficiency. This portal also allows ADEC headquarters and regional offices to access school information easily. The portal has a high capacity to store information, data and documents while ensuring privacy and security are maintained.

The GIS enables users to find all schools (Public and Private) in the emirate easily. Dynamic reports can be generated to profile a school or collection of schools viewing student and teacher statistics. It is a very useful tool for decision makers and school administrators and staff to view their school performance and compare it with other surrounding schools.

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2010.