Chapter One
Introduction
1.0 Introduction
Records management is the field of management responsible for efficient and systematic control of the
creation, receipt, maintenance, use, and disposition of the registration records of students Johanna
(2008). Given the ever-increasing growth of litigation, investigations and regulatory actions coupled with
the explosive growth of electronic records, automation of school’s records management policies,
processes and practices is no longer an option; it is now a necessity. Automated Student Registration
Systems (ASRSs) have been available for nearly ten years. However, they have not been adopted or
implemented at the anticipated level of success because the process of declaring and classifying records
has been largely manual. To facilitate the adoption of needed new registration systems, all manual
operating costs associated with the system’s use and operation must be minimized. Standard High
School uses a file based system for keeping records such as admission book, school fees (ledger book),
warden’s book , also books and files for both teachers and students which are becoming expensive.
These records include admission of students, discipline cases of students ,staff members and students
performance among others however this is not efficient enough because the books wear out, it takes
time looking for specific information in a lot of files and also get lost by malicious students or teachers
retrenched hence loss of the school’s records. This system of Student Registration was designed for
improving the effectiveness and efficiency of managing student’s registration electronic records. The
national focus on student outcomes has placed an additional burden on our nation’s schools, school
districts, and state education agencies according to The National Forum For Educational Statistics, for
they must monitor the achievement of individual students, as well as groups of students, and show that
all students are meeting high standards for learning. An education organization’s ability to meet this
challenge is affected by the organization’s access to complete, accurate, and timely information about
its students. This project has been developed to help education organizations plan and implement
efficient systems for maintaining and using 2 individual student records so that effective decisions can
be made for the benefit of the students and administration including DOS, teachers etc. Many schools,
and state education agencies already collect and use data effectively. However, the proliferations of new
reporting requirements and dramatic changes in technology have had a profound effect on the need for
student data and the education community’s ability to manage student records. Purchase of more
powerful computer hardware and software and the reconfiguration of information systems have
become essential components in efforts to meet the needs of all students.
1.1 Background
Standard High School is a privately owned, mixed boarding, O and A level secondary school offering a
wide range of subjects for students to choose from. The school was founded in 1994 by a group of
experienced and committed professional teachers. It has since then grown and expanded enough to
excel and compete with traditional schools in the country. The school is registered by the ministry of
education and has a UNEB center U0833. The school uses books to keep records concerning information
about students admitted and staff employed. Standard High School has been using a manual system to
capture the department and students records that are obtained. Records that are used in the school by
the department are kept in the files until the end of every Term or year for assessment of student’s
performance. A lot of time is needed to process the request for a particular department in case all the
departments order at the same time for the students records. Since the requests from other stuffs are
also made through the head office, this manual system takes time and often time computational errors
are in the system. Also due to this paper manual system, there isn’t much security in the records and
every one could get access to the store registry file even if not authorized to do so. Reference to a
particular registration record in a particular year would imply manually opening all the old files until the
record is found. This did not only consume time but also wasted resources and manual labor in shifting
and moving the files.
1.2 Problem Statement
Standard High School uses a file based system for keeping records such as admission book, school fees
(ledger book), warden’s book , also books and files for both teachers and students which are becoming
expensive. These records include admission of students, discipline cases of students ,staff members and
students performance among others however this is not efficient enough because the books wear out, it
takes time looking for specific information in a lot of files and also get lost by malicious students or
teachers retrenched hence loss of the school’s records. It also retains the schools records for the case
where a teacher is dismissed from the school and a new teacher is supposed to begin commencement of
teaching. 1.3 Main Objective The main objective of the study was to develop a computerized database
system to manage information for Standard High School Zana that will handle data consistency and
ensure maximum data security. 1.4 Specific Objectives Automated Student Registration System for
Standard High School was designed to cater for the following objectives. The study was guided by the
following objectives; i. To clearly analyze the current system used by Standard High School- Zana to
manage its data records. ii. To establish the requirements necessary for designing a computerized
database system for Standard High School Zana. iii. To design a student registration system for Standard
High School Zana iv. To develop a student registration system for Standard High School Zana v. To test
the computerized student’s registration system for Standard High School Zana.4 1.6 Scope of the study
1.6.1 Subject scope The study majorly concentrated on the management and how students are
registered at Standard High School Zana with an aim of designing and developing a computerized web
based student registration system. 1.6.2 Geographical scope The study was conducted at Standard High
School Zana. This was because I stay at Zana along Nyanama road and the school happens to be very
near to my house. This enabled me not to spend much on transport to the school. 1.7 Significance of the
study This project upon its completion and implementation was to be in position to solve the problems
associated with the existing student’s registration system in the following ways: i. The study serves as a
reference for anyone who might wish to develop a school information management system. ii. The study
enables knowledge and understandability to the researcher and also succeed in my current studies by
attaining a degree in my studies. iii. The study enabled the researcher gain experience in database
design, development and management iv. It improved the administrative efficiency in decision making
and management of the school. v. To other teaching institutions, the study helped them realize that
running a computerized student registration system saves time and managing student’s data more
efficiently. vi. To policy makers like the government of Uganda, it helped them understand the benefits
of computerizing students and records management systems
