Education Management Information Systems (Session 1): EMIS 2.0 #DAC2026

This is a recording from the DHIS2 Annual Conference 2026. Education systems generate vast data, but the distance between data collection and meaningful decision making remains wide. This session traces that gap across four contexts, moving from national-scale EMIS architecture to targeted analytics and field application. Presentations from Nigeria and Lesotho illustrate what it takes to build and sustain government-owned education data systems at scale. Research from LAO PDR demonstrates how EMIS data, combined with geospatial and climate datasets, can surface school-level policy risks that traditional indicators miss. Education Above All closes with a focus on AI-enabled data systems to identify and reach out-of-school children and adolescents. Together the session asks: once a system is built and populated, what is education data actually for?