Evolution Online – EON
National project of final elementary school exam
About Client
The Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development is in charge state administration activities related to pre-school elementary, high school and higher education, education of adults, as well as science and technological development.
Context
Following political changes in Serbia at the beginning of the 2000s, one of the first targets in the Ministry of Education was to introduce the order and reduce corruption in the high-school enrolment process in Serbia.
Former enrolment process relied on entrance exams taking place on high-school premises, and tests were not harmonized. High-school principals had the discretionary right to enroll pupils, which often led to corruption.
If the pupil by any chance failed to enroll in the high school where s/he applied and did the entrance exam, s/he was given an opportunity to enroll in some other high school still accepting new pupils, mainly less popular schools, although maybe, owing to its achievements, s/he could have enrolled into a much better school.
Solution
Due to circumstances, at the end of 2001 and at the beginning of 2002, we were in the position to participate in the development of a new concept of enrolment process in high schools – back then not as a company, but as a group of young people wanting to change the world. After months-long planning and brain storming, our concept has received a green light from the officials and we embarked on its realization.
The new concept was actually simple, but also (especially in that period) difficult for realization, and envisaged some, previously unseen activities in Serbia:
- Preparation of a base which would include all final-year elementary school pupils in Serbia (8th grade pupils), as well as all those who would like to enroll in high school in Serbia;
- Registration of all their achievements recognized as relevant for high school enrolment, including grades, entrance exam evaluation, awards at competitions etc;
- Preparation of an electronic base of the competition, namely register of all education profiles realized in Serbian high school;
- Enable pupils to submit a wish list with education profiles in high schools, listed in accordance with their priorities;
- Distribution of pupils in line with their achievements and the wish list – the pupil is distributed to the first wish listed in her/his wish list s/he has qualified for.
Client:
Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia , Institute for Evaluation of Quality of Education, Office for IT and eGovernment
Industry:
Education, State government
Size:
Large company
Period:
2002 ̶
Status:
System is currently in use and constantly updated.
Category:
Development of special -purpose software, Business analysis, Project management, ICT infrastructure
Technology:
HTML CSS Javascript Jquery .NET ASP.Net C# MSSQL MS Reporting Services Visual Basic 6.0
Integrations:
esDnevnik eUprava eIspit
Specific features:
National projects Organizes and coordinates functioning of all schools in Serbia Support 24/7 decades=long impeccable work
This is a revolutionary and advanced concept, even in this day and age, let alone Serbia in 2002.
However, owing to the courage of the Ministry of Education back in the day, decisiveness to launch changes, and to trust us with the entire project, we have led to changes.
In addition to the concept design, we were also in charge of the complete technical realization which included:
- Preparation and distribution of software for data collection about pupils ;
- Coordination and communication with more than 30 coordinators and IT experts in all parts of Serbia, and with all elementary and high schools in Serbia owing to them;
- Centralization of pupils’ data in each stage of data gathering, as well preparation of official reports based on which data control in schools is implemented;
- Preparation and administration of the official Ministry’s web site dedicated to enrolment ;
- Preparation and administration of the Ministry’s technical web site, dedicated to communication with technical coordinators, namely responsible individuals from the Ministry;
- Preparation of software for distribution of pupils, namely enrolment of pupils into the first educational profile in the wish list s/he has qualified for;
- Preparation of statistics and analysis of achievement in all stages of enrolment.
In July 2002, we have published the official results of the distribution after the first generation of pupils has enrolled in high schools in accordance with the new high school enrollment process, which is when we felt a desire to continue joint work and establish a private company. That year, Vreme magazine announced the project of enrolment in high schools the best reform project in 2002, and we continued to work and improve the concept in question.
In 2012, the entrance exam system was replaced with the national final elementary school exam concept and, in the meantime, the system included specialized profiles (we already have cca 10), each with its independent enrolment regulations.
Each year that followed was a new challenge, and we have been constantly engaged on the improvements to the system –the improvement of the existing procedure, the expansion of the volume of collected data, harmonization with the rest of legal regulations (personal data protection) and integration with other external systems (esDnevnik – Register of data about elementary and high-school pupils, eGovernment – national service for electronic services etc).
Benefits
The key advantage of the new concept are, first of all, is the improved equity of the system, as well reduced corruption.
When they take their final exam at their school and fill in a wish list at home, pupils are given an opportunity to enroll in any high school in Serbia. They do not have to go to the school in question, and with that option pupils who are not so well-off also given an opportunity at a different location, and each pupil is guaranteed enrolment to the first educational profile s/he has qualified for. In addition, the high school enrolment process in managed by the Ministry and high schools are later given lists of enrolled pupils, which reduces willfulness and corruption upon the enrolment process.
In addition to the improved equity of the system and reduced corruption, the Education Ministry, for the first time in its history, has been given a centralized base of pupils and their achievements, which created preconditions for due diligence of work of both schools and the Ministry itself.
TIN: 102789279
Bank Account:
170-30005036000-02
Bank Account:
170-30005036000-02
TIN: 102789279