CHAPTER ONE

1.1 INTRODUCTION

This project looks into the identification and solution to the problems facing record keeping and
lecturing in the educational sector, as well as creating an interactive web-based environment to
ease day to day activities. It also examines education sectors, tertiary institutions in particular
and their records on lectures, exams, scores and archives. This project peak objective is to
establish a Web-Based Educational Management System, is proposed where data and
information are compulsorily required before lecturers and students who are eligible to
participate in learning and are geographically separated from each other. Registered lecturers and
students’ information is automatically stored on a school administrator’s database, which serves
as a record. Administrator can register lecturer and students on his administrative interface incase
if the school management suggests screening process before giving authorization to them using
the proposed web-based educational management system.

Educational Management System is an organized group of information and documentation

services that collects, stores, processes, analyzes and disseminates information of school
activities. It keeps record of school activities for educational planning and management in order
to accomplish the pre-determined objectives of an institution through the co-ordinate use of
human and material resources (Bergan John et.al 2002). The general view of a tertiary
educational routine and lifestyle has drastically changed as there is a belief that there is an
hardship in school. Overcoming this hardship will lead to creating something awesome that
could help institutions, students, lecturers and faculties to keep record and monitor daily
academic activities. This would also enhance the school experience for students, lecturers,
guidance and stake-holders to increase engagement and retention, ease communication, decrease
confusion, and focus on vital issues by implementing a web-based technology.
Technology is changing the mode of teaching and learning in the academic world today, the
limitation of capabilities and inability of individual to gain access to institution environment as a
result of distance from the institution could be part of the possible reasons why there are
difficulties in obtaining higher education knowledge in the recent time.
The greatest appeal of this project is that one can study without having to leave home or a job
place so as to receive lectures. This project made it possible for students to receive their

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education materials without having to sacrifice their career and family time. Some forms of
educational reform must take place to address the problems, in this aspect, a web-based
educational management system addressed this issue .
No doubt, the use of computers within the electronic environment in this 20 th century has led to
rapid and dynamic changes in the way governments, businesses and educational sectors operate
generally. In Nigeria, manual processing of records in educational sector has failed woefully, as
it depends on paper-works, slows in searching, gets damaged after a period of time and prones to
loss. To implement and keep a fast, safe, efficient and more reliable records in Nigeria
institutions; tertiary institutions has to catch-up with electronic implemented devices and
embrace information technology (IT) oriented database to achieve a more reliable record
keeping.
Monitoring student’s activities and performances in tertiary institutions is extremely crucial these
days, due to numerous reports of indiscipline acts and abuses among students and lecturers. To
date, there is no adequate safekeeping measure in place to trace and investigate violators. This
project proves to be a starting point of investigation, pointing to pupils in the institution
individually by storing their names, passport photographs, login information / details and saves it
as a record on the web-based educational management system database.

1.2 MOTIVATION AND BACKGROUND

The motivation of this project is from Jack Hawkins (a core developer in University of Colorado
at Colorado) who emphasized that a secured, cheap and easy-to-use technology must be used in
schools to allow greater use among students and lecturers, to create smooth communication and
as well fetching day-to-day activities for students and lecturers and their performers as a record
(Jack Hawkins, 2002). Educational Management System serves more than record keeping
solution, its functionality is vast; The system serves as a Learning Management System (LMS)
and informative medium to the school administration. In order to fully appreciate the
requirements of the web-based educational management system, it is important to have details on
the following:
1. Current methods used in educational sector to save and process data and information as
record, its advantages and disadvantages.

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 2. Critical problems affecting educational sector and referring to past incidents that give
evidence on how this project can proffer solution to the challenges.

The first thing to ask is why is it necessary to measure the value of the web-based management
system so accurately? Looking at most form of websites and database owned and managed by
institutions in Nigeria, one can ascertain the one that provides the best source of data and
information. Adewale S.B. (2014) posit that is glaring Nigeria Universities lack professionalism
in IT development, despite large volume of Computer Science scientists; 67% of Nigeria’s
university operates substandard website with no complete database implementation. Leaving
numerous problems un-solved, some of the challenges fall into record keeping, insecurity,
malpractices, delay in release of result and sexual harassment.

1.3 PROBLEM DEFINITION

Over the years, Universities in Nigeria have consistently faced increasing complex
organizational problems in areas such as resources maximization, staffing, procedural problems
regarding planning, student records, control and evaluation, information storage and retrieval.
Record keeping in the educational system has become increasingly complex like the universities
are not only facing complex managerial problems, over time they have become complex in
themselves. The complexities of educational systems and their institutions, particularly in
Nigeria tends to be characterized by such phenomena as student population explosion, diversities
in the dimensions of programs and procedures.
At the core of the above bewildering list of complex variables is the problem of paucity of
information as well as poor capacity for records and information management. The university
provides education to the general populace catering for diverse fields of learning, ranging from
the Humanities, Social Sciences, Arts, Science and Technology, Medicine, Law and Education at
different levels of postgraduate and undergraduate studies. The total enrolment in universities
ranges from 5,000 in the smaller universities to 40,000 in the larger ones and are still growing.
Various levels of activities are conducted in these universities ranging from ventures to academic
and financial transactions. The general disposition of people, and especially office personnel, to
have little regard for records, handling records manually by stocking paperwork which has
contributed to the poor state of records today in all of the nation’s institutions of higher learning.

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Popoola and Oluwole (2007) posits that Nigerian university administrators are often concerned
about the alarming rate of misplacement or loss of vital records and the slow speed at which
needed records are retrieved from their storage. Accurate retrieval and timely availability for use
of the required information would reduce common problems of management in institutions, such
as:
1. Difficulties in finding information needed to take decisions or respond to inquiry.
2. Improperly registered students in school registers and records.
3. Inability to forward students’ reports/records or release results on schedule (Nwankwo,
1985).

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following research questions are the focus of this project:
1. How does the web technology enhance the efficiency of record keeping and
educational system as compared to the traditional record keeping system.
2. How user-friendly is the applied web technology in record keeping and educational
system as compared to the traditional record keeping system.

1.5 REASEARCH AIMS AND OBJECTIVES

The aim of this project is to create an online database solution for record keeping of student
activities in the educational system for assisting the school administrators to obtain inventory of
students and administrators in the schools for proper planning of the University programmes,
staffing and provision of facilities, keeping proper school records of admission, placement and
progress of students in the school and retrieving vital information when required.
The objective of this research are as follows:-
1. The record keeping enables the school administrators to know the academic and general
progress of students and also report to their parents / guardians when necessary and to
inform employers, whom frequently request information to certify their employees.
2. This facilitates the continuity in the administration of a school.
3. The provision of data for planning and decision-making by school authorities, Ministries
of education and other related education authorities.

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 4. To ensure that accurate and proper records of student’s achievement and growth during
his school days are kept and to report same to parents/guardians, employers, other
institutions for students admission or job placement.
5. The provision of data for planning and decision-making by school heads, Ministry of
education and other related parastatals.
6. To provide information needed by lecturers, staff, counselors in working with students.

1.6 REASEARCH METHODOLOGY

This section discusses the technologies that will be considered to implement the web-based
educational management system which is developed using Web-based scripts and software.
After series of research to bring an end to the hardship facing students during registrations and
record updating, even on their daily school lectures and activities, the implementation of Linux
Operating System (OS), Scripts, Hosts, Programs and Languages were well thought-out to
achieve a solution that is capable to manage vast number of students and the entire institution,
either within or outside the school premises.
To create a smooth safe operating database that could accommodate large data and also provide
an effective means of communication between users and administrators, HTTP (hypertext
transfer protocol) is adopted to transmit data and information as hypermedia documents in place
of manual record processing (paperwork). The application designed in this project is developed
as a web-based program oriented solution, developed and coded on Linux OS, Apache, PHP5.0,
MySQLi, Notepad++, Ajax, JQuerry, CSS3, HTML5 and Filezilla Client. The web-based
application handles four different kinds of users: student, lecturers, parents/guardians and the
administrator. Various tools have been developed like course tool, SMS alert, Message board
tool, Discussion board tool, Exam tool, Result board, Grade tool etc. Base on the role of users,
the functionality of the tools changes. For example only the administrator has full privilege to
edit sensitive data and information on any users account / profile of
Lecturers/Students/Guardians names, matriculation numbers, passport photographs, examination
results / scores and faculty inputs. In spite of this, students have privileges to communicate with
other students and lecturers and discuss educational issues, download lecture materials and
discuss to colleagues or lecturers whenever there is need to do so, all within their authorized
profile; after a successful login through the web-based application.

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Lecturers have Add/Edit privilege in creating course materials, sending notification, receiving
student’s submitted papers by downloading it, mark the papers and input students scores
respectively but has no privilege to edit his names, Identification numbers, passport photograph
and other sensitive details and data.
Parent/Guardian has no privilege to input any data but can view their student’s account
individually and successfully monitor the student’s performance and file a complaint or report to
either administrator or lecturer.
Only the administrator (Admin) has full privilege to Add, Edit, Save and Delete any profile,
input and data on the database. The administrator can as well grant access to students and
lecturers to Add/Edit inputs to activate necessary tools within their given profile interface. The
admin can suspend any suspicious user, this includes students, lecturers and guardians then flags
and notifies the user on what went wrong and what to do, to lift the ban on his or her account on
the website.
This web application is called Educational Management System (EMS) after considering its
powerful crispy look, communication and functionalities. It serves as a project monitoring, web-
based supporting tools to students, lecturers and guardians. This web application was
implemented using latest scripts and languages in place of older version in order to construct a
fast loading, user-friendly and highly interactive web-application.
Subsequently, the web-based application design, operation and maintenance becomes more
complex and challenging. Therefore in order to support the systematic process and approach in
web-application development, a new discipline which is known as web-engineering has been
introduced to achieve this Educational Management System (EMS).

1.7 SCOPE OF STUDY

This project focus on Record Keeping and Information updating problems facing Educational
institutions. The research combines visual aspect of web designing and programming and create
a web-based application, mainly to tackle poor record keeping and complete day-day student
activities / institutional data and information.

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1.8 THESIS OUTLINE
This chapter (chapter one) explains the web-based educational management system. It describes
the motivation and background, problem statement, research questions, research aim and
objectives, research methodology and the scope of study of this project.
Chapter two gives background information of the web-based Educational Management System,
its problems, advantages, disadvantages and tips for successful record keeping.
Chapter three describes the design methodology of this proposed management system.
Chapter four describes the implementation and evaluation of result of this new system and the
challenges faced to build this system.
Chapter five concludes the paper with Summary, Recommendation and Conclusion.

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 CHAPTER TWO
2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW
No doubt, records serve many functions in the operation of an establishment such as a University
library and faculties. Records represent all documentary materials such as reports,
correspondence, forms, drawings, projects, photographs, maps and appear in various physical
forms e.g. paper, microfilms, CD-ROM, tapes and cards etc which can be preserved for a short
or long periods. S.O. Popoola (2000) explains that what actually keeps the civil service going in
any modern system of government is the recorded information called "RECORDS", which are
used for planning decision-making and controlling. The need for a record management system in
all organizations cannot be overstressed in the digital age. This is actually a proving fact after
looking into Garry Morett Y (2015) case study on Nigeria 2015 election, " Democracy has
proved itself once again during Nigeria 2015 election, not because the states were free from
corruption nor settle to serve the people by might; but because the Nigeria electoral commission
borrowed and implemented a biometric electronic form of registration and voting, which records
every voter and integrates their identities on a single cloud database to certify their votes.
Nevertheless ballot papers were not ruled out but the ballot papers are expected to tally with
records on the cloud database".
Stressing the use of technology in record management, McDonald (1995) opines that "In
developing record keeping solutions, it is necessary to understand and the evolution that is taking
place in the use of technology." The application of Information and Communication
Technology(ICT) to the management of records therefore, will go a long way in making such
record protected, accessible and usable.
The purpose and essence of record system is the right information in the right place in the right
order, at the right time for the right person at the lowest cost. For the feat to be achieved, and
integrated record management system is needed. Enwere J.C. (1992), Baje E.N. (1998) argue
that the un-integrated records management programme in Nigeria public service has led to
insufficiency in administration and to the loss or unavailability of vital information needed for
decision-making. Employee records may be defined as "records that contain initial application
forms, results of physical examination, test scores, interviewers notations, projects, periodical
appraisal, transfer and promotions, releases and retiring wages, disciplinary actions, salaries,
taxes paid, contributions and similar inputs." (Soveign, 1984). Some or all the following may be

8
included in an employee file: full name, address, telephone number, age and sex, nationality,
ethnic origin, religion, membership in trade union etc. In many organizations these records are
poorly organized and underutilized despite the vital or important information they contained.
Emerson (1984) argued that personnel records pose a particular problem because of their bulk,
longevity and sensitivity. As record management developed, it has also incorporated principles
integral to information science as "the means of processing information for optimum
accessibility and disability, concerned with the origination, collection, organization, storage,
retrieval, interpretation, transmissions, transformation and utilization of information" (Vakkari
and Cronin, 1992). Such principles are adopted by record managers in seeking to enhance the
access and use of records.
Nwagwu (2006), Olawale (2006) and Odetunde (2006) reported that poor record keeping has
contributed to pitiable monitoring and reporting, as some students in our universities actually
spend most of their academic years outside the walls of the university, doing unrelated activities
to enable them to pay for unmerited examination scores and grades. Altering academic
examination scores and grades are popular throughout Nigerian tertiary institutions due to poor
manual record keeping (paper-work) and inefficient monitoring. Odetunde (2006) strongly
emphasized that such students are seen on campus only during examination periods while some
that have intermediaries, are never seen on campus as long as they are willing to pay the required
amount of money by their influenced or corrupt lecturers. In developed countries such scenario
would have been logged as an update on the students' / lecturer's profile on the school database,
which could be used by school authorities to carry out proper investigation before sanctioning
whoever that is involved. Recently tertiary institutions are developing minimal access for parents
and guardians to gain access to their pupil's profile on the school database, in this case school
authorities judgment and sanction would have been logged and reflect on the student's profile.
Parents, guardians, students, lecturers and other stakeholders can only gain access to view
profiles and data on the database using the internet protocol (HTTP), only the admin could fetch
data and information locally without the means of internet.
Professional literature on archives and records management pays-little or no attention at all to the
subject of managing personnel records even though these files are substantial. In comparison to
financial records which have clear retention periods, personnel records do not seem to have well
developed retention period. Students of all ages routinely use the Web to do research and to work
collaboratively with other students, scientists and scholars. Educational institutions also use
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websites to disseminate information about school activities to prospective and current
employees, parents and the community. Websites are often used as instructional tools in both
distance learning programs and on-campus classes. Information disseminated via the Web offers
great opportunities for people with disabilities, provided the information is accessible. Like many
instructors who venture into the online classroom, Brenda Rambo (assistant professor of
psychology at Middle Tennessee State University) who began gradually by enhancing her
courses with Web contents. Her initial motivation was to provide her students with online
handouts, which would eliminate the hassle and expense of making photocopies. From this
simple beginning, she has progressed to offering user-friendly fully online and hybrid courses
that have changed the way she teaches and the way her students learn. Brenda Rambo posits “I
decided to build basic website for all my courses to stop the handouts and to provide the syllabus
and reading schedules. The more I did that, the more I was intrigued by how much it benefited
the students and how much more of the learning process they could be in control of". The
department had few online courses available to undergraduates, so Brenda Rambo (2005)
decided to create an online version of developmental psychology, a required course for
psychology majors and the course proved to be very popular. What’s the reason for the
popularity of the course? Brenda Rambo (2006) continues that “Most students work 25 to 35
hours a week, many work full-time jobs and take full loads. A lot of students also have families,
so coming to class is a big inconvenience. They may be very motivated learners, but they need to
do it when they can do it. I have found that most of my students who take my online courses say
that they love being in charge of their learning, doing it when they have time to do it,” Brenda
Rambo (2007)says. In addition to flexibility, the design of Brenda Rambo’s courses provides
students with an active learning experience. She uses WebCT, but her design goes beyond the
basic layout, which makes the courses more user friendly than they would be otherwise. She
divides each course into the following: -
1. Course content and related materials:This
section includes the syllabus, calendar pop ups,
reading schedule, meeting schedule (for hybrid
courses), chat group assignments, and case
studies.

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 2. Communication tools: This section includes
links to e-mail, discussion boards, and chat
rooms.
3. Study tools: This section includes study
sheets that help students prepare for exams and
other tools that Rambo has designed to help
students study.
4. Assignments: This section lists all the
assignments with links to assignment
requirements, instructions, rubrics, and any
forms needed to do the assignment.
5. Handouts and forms: This section includes
all handouts and forms related to the course.
6. Class notes: In this section, Rambo
provides course content in several formats,
including lecture notes, PowerPoint
presentations, and outlines

The rapid development of computer and Internet technologies has dramatically increased the
ways of teaching and learning. Among these new approaches, online Web-based education has
become a promising field. Many educators point out the importance of interaction in high quality
online education. For instance, Shale and Garrison (1990) state that interaction is “education at
its most fundamental form” (p. 1). In addition, Palloff and Prat(1999) argue that the “keys to the
learning process are the interactions among students themselves, the interactions between faculty
and students, and the collaboration in learning that results from these interactions” (p. 5). A sage
in the field of distance education, Moore (1992)

Information recorded in paper and electronic files help managers, particularly chief executives,
to direct, control communicate, plan, formulate policies, and make decisions (Uwaifo, 2004).
The availability of records is crucial in attaining organizational goals. Perhaps more important is
the proper management of these records. To be of maximum value, records must be organized
and properly managed. Afolabi (1991) posits that records management practice in Nigeria has a
number of problems which include insufficient skilled and experienced records management

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personnel, low priority of records management in the scheme of things, and insufficient funds
(Afolabi, 1991). Penn, Pennix and Coulson (1994:2) and King (1997:656) pointed out that many
business transactions depend on the proper creation and maintenance of recorded information.
The medium on which the record keeping of information could be done may be paper,
microfilm, audiotapes, videotapes, photographs, slides, or any computer-readable medium, such
as computer tapes or disks, compact disks and optical disks. Gold (1995:1) characterized an
organization's management of its records as the 'corporate secret weapon' and 'the winning
strategy' that give the organization the competitive edge. Yet few organizations, including
universities, pay attention to the management of this corporate resource. Despite the fact that
universities are continually being called upon to function in a business-like manner in order to be
self-sustaining and to remain competitive, they overlook the enormous advantages that proper
records management practices could contribute to the achievement of their objectives (Mnjama
2002:34; Procter 2002:49). However, Olagboye (2004) citing Adepoju (1998) & Ojelade (1998)
listed some general reasons or importance of keeping school records which include:
1. Tells the history of the school and her useful historical sources.
2. Facilitate continuity in the administration of a school
3. Facilitate and enhance the provision of effective guidance and counseling services for
pupils in the social, academic career domains.
4. Provides information needed about ex-students by higher and other related institutions
and employers of labour for admission or placement.
5. Facilitate the supply of information to parents and guardians for the effective monitoring
of the progress of their children/wards in schooling or performance.
6. Provide data needed for planning and decision making by school heads, ministries of
education and related educational authorities.
7. Provide a basis for the objective assessment of the state of teaching and learning in a
school, including staff and student performance by supervisors and inspectors.
8. Provide information for the school community, the general public employers as well as
educational and social science researchers for the advancement of knowledge.

2.2 SOME PROBLEMS FACED IN THE INSTITUTION

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The inability of institution to adopt a complete database implementation in academic activities
has led to leaving numerous problems faced in the institutions unresolved. some of these
problems include:

2.2.1 RECORD KEEPING

Record keeping of student school activities cannot be over emphasized, especially to ensure that
accurate and proper record of student’s achievement, growth and academic details are kept
safely. Smooth running of an institution depends on effective and efficient record keeping as one
of the student's personnel service. Certainly, records mainly serves as the key; referring to the
past and a signpost to the future. However, on a closer look at Nigeria institutions, one finds that
records of student's activities are not properly kept. Nwagwu (1995) observed that Nigeria does
not have a developed school activities record keeping culture in the educational system. But
records should be adequately stored and preserved for easy reference and retrieval.
Fagbulu et.al (1998) explained how a proper and well record keeping of student's activities can
be achieved by developing a manual training on the approaches to data management in schools.
The training was essentially to lead to the collection of accurate and reliable enrolment figures in
the school systems. Stupendously, the entry behavioural test found that most of the schools
practically had no records on the things they did in the schools.
Looking closely into past efforts made by numerous researchers to develop a complete and
effective solution that could solve record keeping in the educational system has proved abortive,
despite all efforts to improve the poor record keeping in educational institutions. Addressing the
problem facing record keeping in the educational system manually could possibly be the reason
why little or no success were achieved as it takes more time searching through records on
paperwork and also there might be loss or damage of paper-work and vital documents.
Considering all these past efforts, it is now glaring that manual processing of record keeping in
the educational system is not ideal, as it is slow in process and archaic. This is the basis for the
research so as to tidy the record.

2.2.2 INSECURITY & MALPRACTICES

Assemblage of this project actually base and tackle a large area of security and examination
malpractice problems in the tertiary institutions. Over the years, writers and educationists have
emphasized on security problems and highlighted little or no solution. Nwagwu et.al (2006)
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made it clear that some students in our universities actually spend most of their academic years
outside the walls of the university, doing unrelated activities to enable them to pay for unmerited
examination scores and grades, such students are seen on campus only during examination
periods while some that have intermediaries, are never on campus as long as they are willing to
send the required amount of money. It is disheartening to acknowledge also that the actions of
both the academic and non-academic staff in our universities, do not encourage academic
excellence and proficiency because even the diligent students are forced to engage in corrupt
behavior, since the obviously lazy and unmotivated students that are never in class or in practical
sessions, pass their examinations with good grades ahead of the seemingly conscientious ones.

2.2.3 EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE

Enaowho (2006) identified examination malpractice as another plague on the Nigerian university
system. A study conducted at the University of Benin, Nigeria, to investigate the attitude of
university undergraduates toward examination malpractice, found that 51% of students were
positively disposed to cheating in examinations, while 49% were not (Alutu & Alutu, 2003).
These figures can be compared with the study by McCabe (2005), which demonstrated that 21%
of American and Canadian students had engaged in examination misconduct of some forms. The
different forms of examination malpractices include: impersonation; copying from other students
during an examination; bringing into examination rooms, text books, microchips, organizers and
diaries that have relevant examination materials; prepared answers being taken into the
examination hall; discussion during examinations; writing of answers on currency notes
(especially objective answers); use of coded pencils; exchange of scripts during examination;
writing of answers on laps, palms and arms; and assault on examination supervisors and
invigilators (Oyebisi, 2006).
On the one hand, there is an over-reliance upon examination results (or paper qualifications) in
Nigeria, and on the other, there is entrenched systemic corruption, which ensures that most
degrees, diplomas or certificates are unreliable indicators of students’ potential or achievements
(Odetunde, 2006; Ebireri, 2004). Olawale (2006) explains that “it is not he that approaches his
study with zeal that eventually reaps the benefits of hard work but he or she that is willing to
bribe, cheat or sexually gratify a lecturer.” Nwagwu (2006) concurs with this view and bemoans
the general poor quality of university students in the Nigerian system.

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While it could be argued that these forms of academic misconduct are not unique to Nigeria,
what distinguishes them here is the relatively high percentage of students (over half) who regard
these practices as normal and acceptable.

2.2.4 DELAY IN RELEASE OF RESULT

The most common problem faced in most institution is the delay in release of students' result at
the right time so as to let students know their performances in past examinations done and also
know their flaws academically and areas where they need to sit tight in their academic life. Most
institution don't release student's result on time which leads to why most students do not know
what courses they have failed in order to re-sit for it so as not to hinder them from graduating
from school successfully. The delay in release of students' result in time has made most student
not discover until at their final year that there are some courses they failed which they need to
redo, had it been the results were released on time then every individual student would have
known what courses to be retaken and also area at which they need to sit up and work hard
academically.

2.2.5 SEXUAL HARASSMENT

Another problem is the incidence of sexual harassment that has increasingly become noticeable
on university campuses in Nigeria. The issue also involves lecturers and non-academic
employees of the universities. It is more common however, to hear of lecturers harassing female
students sexually (Denga & Denga, 2004). A few known isolated cases of some female lecturers
propositioning their male students have been reported (Denga, 1986).
The magnitude of sexual harassment in Nigerian universities was revealed in an interaction
between the Nigerian Minister of Education and about 1,000 students, summarised by Houreld
(2006) as follows:
After a girl spoke up about being pressured for sex by teachers in
exchange for better grades…for years, sexual harassment has been
rampant in Nigeria's universities, but until recently very little was done
about it…most victims are college students such as Chioma, a slim,
quiet 22-year-old with a B average, who repeatedly failed Political
Science course after refusing her teacher’s explicit demands for sex. She said
he was a Pastor and old enough to be her grandfather…Some
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 lecturers see young girls as fringe benefits…We’ve had cases where
the girls have complained and the Heads of their Departments have
called them and said, ‘Give him what he wants’…In a recent survey
80% of more than 300 women asked at four universities said sexual
harassment was their number one concern.
This situation continues to occur despite the fact that sexual harassment in educational settings
and the workplace (formal and informal) in Nigeria and other parts of Africa have in the last two
decades received local and international attention and condemnation (ILO, 1992; Oppong, 1995;
Mama, 1996).

2.2.6 CULTISM
A number of commentators suggest that students’ involvement in cultism on campus has also
eroded educational values and goals (Nwagwu, 2006; Rotimi, 2005; Onoyase, Onoyase &
Arubayi, 2008). While it is almost impossible to accurately document the amount of crime
resulting from cult activities (Rotimi, 2005), there is anecdotal evidence that cultists engage in a
range of violent and destructive acts that have radically altered the learning environment of the
university. Onoyase et al., (2008) state that students’ participation in cults has had the effect of
ensuring that the majority of those on campus live in a state of perpetual fear, because of the
common place nature of gang torture, rape, kidnapping and theft. Male cultists engage in rape,
violence, murder and kidnapping, and female cultists often operate prostitution rings, and also
engage in violence. In addition to acts of violence, cultists openly cheat in examinations and
openly threaten their lecturers (Onoyase et al., 2008, p. 200).
Rotimi (2005) explains some factors associated with Nigerian universities that has provided a
breeding ground for cultism, which include: “reduced funding, inadequate recreational facilities,
idleness, contempt for intellectual culture and distaste for enlightened debate and easy access to
sophisticated weapons” (p. 94).
It is apparent that the Nigerian education system is corrupt at almost every level, from
administrators to lecturers and students. Okoye (2006) refers to lecturers not following school
timetables, conducting other business from their offices, exploiting students both sexually and
financially, and being intellectually and academically lazy. The spin-off effect is that students are
similarly lazy and corrupt. Students routinely cheat on examinations, pay others to sit exams for
them, falsify academic records, and ‘pay’ for university admission, grades (and even
16
certifications) with gifts, money or sexual favours (Kigotho, 2004). An example of the extent of
the deterioration of the Nigerian university system was the revocation of the degrees of 7,254
graduates, in a crackdown on academic fraud at the University of Port Harcourt, SouthEastern
Nigeria.
Uzokwe (2006) makes clear, however, that the corruption in the education system is emblematic
of the broader corruption, which characterizes Nigerian society. As Uzokwe(2006) comments:
“it is a shame that one cannot get anything meaningful in Nigeria without bribing someone.
Careful observations show that those Nigerians that have perfected the act of bribery and
corruption seem to be getting well ahead of the others that have shunned it”. Uzokwe (2006)
concludes that the logical result of such endemic corruption is “university graduates that are
functional illiterates”.
Interestingly, issues highlighted in this section (2.2) played the key role in implementation of this
management system, as it prompts in the relation to schooling experience and triggered the
interest of solving the problems with a single enabled solution. The fact realized on this persisted
institutional problems is that both students and lecturers are divided respectively and the issue of
who will report and whom to report to arises. Honestly, a lot of adjustment has to be made within
the educational system before this web-based management system can solve the spotted issues,
for example appointing a reliable administrating desk and very strict disciplinary committee.
This will prompt complainant to confide on the administrator and will surely sense warning to
abusers.

17
 CHAPTER THREE

3.1 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND DESIGN

This chapter describes the setup and design of the system. The following were discussed in
details:-
1. Software used.
2. Analysis of the Current System
3. System Specification
4. System Design and Architecture
5. Source code structure
6. Modules/Tools developed in this system.

3.1.1 SOFTWARE
The software design of this system focuses on the Java-based, client/server type software model.
The system is developed as a web-based program oriented solution, developed and coded on
Linux Operating System (OS) with the adoption of software and script languages; Apache,
PHP5.0, MySQLi, Notepad++, Ajax, JQuerry, CSS3, HTML5, and Filezilla Client.

3.1.2. SOME DEFINITION TERMS OF SOFTWARE USED:

1. JQuerry: Also known as the write-last-do-more-library (WLDML) is a cross-platform

JavaScript library, designed to simplify the client-side scripting of HTML. JQuery is the
most popular JavaScript library in use today, it is free, open-source software licensed
under the MIT License. JQuery's syntax is designed to make it easier to navigate a
document, select DOM elements, create animations, handle events, and develop Ajax
applications. JQuery also provides capabilities for developers to create plug-ins on top of
the JavaScript library. This enables developers to create abstractions for low-level
interaction and animation, advanced effects and high-level, theme-able widgets. The
modular approach to the jQuery library allows the creation of powerful dynamic web
pages and web applications.

18
2. Filezilla Client: Is a free software, cross-platform FTP application, consisting
of FileZilla Client and FileZilla Server. Client binaries are available for Windows,
Linux, and Mac OS X, server binaries are available for Windows only. The client
supports FTP, SFTP and FTPS (FTP over SSL/TLS).

3. Apache: Is open source software and runs on just about any operating system, it is web
server software that is used to tell a computer what to show when a website is visited.
The importance of Apache begins with the early days of the World Wide Web when it
was the only open source web server software that was available free for anyone to use.
The software is what helped the web to grow into what is seen today.

4. AJAX: (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML): This is a group of interrelated Web

development techniques used on the client-side to create asynchronous Web applications.
It's not a new programming language, but a new way to use existing standards, with Ajax,
web applications can send data to and retrieve from a server asynchronously (in the
background) without interfering with the display and behavior of the existing page.

5. PHP: is an acronym for "PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, It is a server scripting language,

and a powerful tool for making dynamic and interactive Web pages. It is widely-used,
open source scripting language and the script codes are executed on the server and the
result is returned to the browser as plain HTML. It is powerful enough to be at the core of
the biggest blogging system and deep enough to run the largest social network such as
facebook, twitter etc.

6. CSS: stands for Cascading Style Sheets, it is a style sheet language used for describing
the look and formatting of a document written in a markup language. Although most
often used to change the style of web pages and user interfaces written in HTML and
XHTML, the language can be applied to any kind of XML document. CSS defines how
HTML elements are to be displayed.

7. HTML: stands for HyperText Markup Language, is the most basic building block of a
webpage and used for creating and visually representing a webpage. It determines the

19
 content of a webpage, but not its functionality, HTML adds "markup" to Standard
English Text. "Hyper Text" refers to links that connect Web pages to one another,
making the World Wide Web what it is today. By creating and uploading Web pages to
the Internet, one becomes an active participant in the World Wide Web once the site is
online. HTML supports visual images and other media as well. With the help of HTML
everyone can make static as well as dynamic web sites. HTML is the language that
describes the structure and the semantic content of a web document.

8. Notepad++: is an .exe open-source Notepad replacement and source-code editor for

Windows. As a lightweight text editor, it adds functionality missing in Windows
Notepad, such as tabs, a split-screen interface, spell-checking and plugins. Notepad++
also includes syntax highlighting and other features for programmers working with
source code.

9. MySQLi: The database is designed and implemented using MySQLi. An interactive

version of MySQL database, it is vast, free, and scalable.

3.2 ANALYSIS OF THE OLD SYSTEM

Mainly the process involved in processing of Educational Management System (EMS) is a
manual process, that involves movement of files from one location to another and endless
waiting for the authorization of personal data being registered manually, the process starts from
endlessly queue at the registrar office in order to fill an information record form manually, and
then endless waiting until authorization and there can also be misplacement of a particular
student/lecturer's record as a result of movement of files from one location to another.

3.3 SYSTEM SPECIFICATION

Collofello (1999) suggested that in order to have an effective communication during web
enabled solution development and project monitoring, web-based support tools should be
provided. Many legacy information and database systems have been transferred to a web based
environment so that they can be accessed through the internet (Murugesan et al. 2001). New

20
technologies such as Google map, Adobe Flash Player, Java applet, and others are hooked into
web application to facilitate the information sharing activities. Consequently, the web-based
application design, development, operation and maintenance becomes more complex and
challenging. Therefore, in order to support the systematic process and approach in this web
application development, a new discipline which is known as web engineering has been
introduced.
Based on this speculated fact, the combination of the visual aspects of a static prototype
developed by a third party developer with a certain degree of interactive functionality was
adopted. This process was implemented throughout this project design especially in the
navigation section and the use of real web controls during data processing. Prototyping also
allows to capture new user requirements after test drive by system administrator. Hence, new
functions can be developed and integrated as the system prototype is revised.
The conceptual design of the Educational Management System proposed in this paper is
constructed based on two studies. Firstly, The main component and functional of project
management software project that are available in the market (TaskFreak 2010, HiTask 2010)
was examined, although these management softwares were made to manage hospitals, service
rendering firms, and architectural companies. But also the development of a major sensitive and
recording aspect of the software was adopted to achieve this Educational Management System
solution. Secondly, the prototype of the Communication System between Student and Lecturer
(Leong 2006) and Web-based Project Management System (Ekattor 2009) that were developed
as final year projects by an American computer science student (Mitchel Eknor 2005) was
revised.

3.4 SYSTEM DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE

Figure 3.1 shows the context diagram of the OOU Educational Management System. Context
diagram is a level 0 of data flow diagram which illustrates the overall system. It also defines the
scope and boundary between the system and an external entity. This diagram also shows the
input and output flows of data to and from the system and external entities.

21
 Figure 3.1: Context Architecture Diagram of Web-based Educational Management

System
In the design for the prototype system as illustrated by Figure 1, five categories of entities or
users are included. The first entity is Administrator which represents the department office, who
plays a role of an authenticator, the second is Lecturer who plays a role as a fetch and supervisor,
the third entity is Staff who plays a role as a supportive fetch, the fourth is Student who serves as
the major user and the fifth entity is Parent who serves as guardian and a moderator. Hence,
dividing system functionalities according to modules is an appropriate way of handling design
and implementation tasks so that integrating future module for the Administrator and other
entities into the system can be done in the next prototype. Future section will also display the
prototype system that has been developed so far.

3.5 SOURCE CODE STRUCTURE

This application is developed on Linux Operating System using software and script languages;
Apache, PHP5.0, MySQLi, Notepad++, Ajax, JQuerry, CSS3, HTML5, and Filezilla Client.

22
Hosted on a 1and1.com server as a website application (www.ajamolaya.com)

3.5.1 THE ROOT DIRECTORY CONTAINS

- app
- config
contains the configuration files of the application.

- controllers
contains the functional files of the application.
- AdminsController.php
- LecturersController.php
- StudentsController.php
- ParentsController.php
- GradeLevelsController.php Figure 3.2 - configuration files of the application
-ExamsListController.php
- MailSmsController.php
- LibraryController.php
- AssignmentsController.php
- ClassesController.php
- HostelsController.php
- promotionController.php
- OnlineExamsController.php
-SubjectsController.php
- assets
contains all CSS styles and JavaScript files and folders.
23
 Figure 3.3 - CSS Styles and Javascripts

- bootstrap
contains all the configurations, mobile and library files
of the framework.
- templates
contains all pre-designed webpage frameworks, or set of forms.
- uploads
contains all attached and uploaded documents and media files.
- vendor
contains all communicating scripts, files and folders to that
execute SMS and Emails.

3.5.2. SOURCE CODE DESCRIPTION

Admin dashboard:
Admin Controller (/app/controllers/AdminsController.php)

Figure 3.4 - Admin Dashboard

24
Dashboard function loads the view file named dashboard.blade.php and redirects to login page if
the admin login is not true.

Administrator:
Administrator Controller (/app/controllers/AdminSettingsController.php)

Fig 3.5 - Administrator Controller

Administrator function control all areas of script, create new accounts and restrict or approve
registration requests, Send Mail / SMS to users, control site settings, hostels, classes, subjects,
news, events and grade levels, set class schedule for each class, can use private messages with
other site users, view library, download and check book status. Ability to save and fetch on the
MySQLi database without restrictions.

25
Manage Lecturers:
Lecturers Controller (/app/controllers/LecturersController.php)

Fig 3.6 - Lecturer's Controller

Function lecturer has the ability see classes schedule, Add / Control attendance, grades for
students, Create exams / assignment for classes and review marks, can use private messages with
other site users, view library, download and check book status, can view news, events and
calendar, ability to add, edit or delete Courses, Assignments, Marks from the system. An email is
sent to the lecturer on creating his/her account by admin

Manage Students:
Students Controller (/app/controllers/StudentsController.php)

Figure 3.7 - Students Controller

26
Function student can view exams and assignments, can view online exams and take them, can
see classes schedule, can view news, events and calendar, can use private messages with other
site users, View library, download and check book status.

Manage Parents:
Parents Controller (/app/controllers/ParentsController.php)

Figure 3.8 - Parents Controller

Function parent can see his student's mark-sheet, grades and attendance, can view exams and
assignments, can see classes schedule, can view news, events and calendar, can use private
messages with other site users, view library, download and check book status.

Manage Grades:
Grades Controller (/app/controllers/GradesLevelsController.php)

Figure 3.9 - Grades Controller

27
Manage Exams:
Exams Controller (/app/controllers/ExamsListController.php)

Figure 3.10 - Exams Controller

Manage Mail and SMS

Mail SMS Controller (/app/controllers/MailSmsController.php)

Figure 3.11 - Mail SMS Controller

28
Manage Library
Library Controller (/app/controllers/LibraryController.php)

Figure 3.12 - Library Controller

Manage Assignments
Assignments Controller (/app/controllers/AssignmentsController.php)

Figure 3.13 - Assignment

29
Manage Classes
Classes Controller (/app/controllers/ClassesController.php)

Figure 3.14 - Classes Controller

Manage Hostels
Hostels Controller (/app/controllers/HostelsController.php)

Figure 3.15 - Hostels Controller

30
Manage Courses

Courses Controller (/app/controllers/CoursesController.php)

Figure 3.16 - Courses Controller

Manage Online Exams

Online Exams Controller (/app/controllers/OnlineExamsController.php)

Figure 3.17 -Online Exam Controller

31
Manage Promotion
Promotion Controller (/app/controllers/PromotionController.php)

Figure 3.18 - Promotion Controller

3.6 MODULES/TOOLS DEVELOPED IN THIS SYSTEM

To enhance the previous analysis as well as an ineffective execution of manual schedule
monitoring, a few important modules have been identified.
Users for the system are students, lecturers, parents and administrators. The modules are:
1. Administrator Module
a. Managing User accounts (Lecturers, students, parents)
b. Managing classes, subjects
c. Managing class routine
d. Managing exam, grades
e. Managing exam marks
f. Sending exam marks via SMS
g. Managing students attendance
h. Managing accounting, income & expenses
i. Managing school events
j. Managing library, dormitory, transport
k. Messaging between other users

32
 l. Managing system settings (General, SMS, Language)

2. Lecturer Module
a. Managing students
b. Managing exam marks
c. Provide study materials/files to students
d. Managing attendance/class timetable

3. Student's Module
a. Get class routine
b. Get exam marks
c. Get attendance status
d. Get study materials / files from lecturers
e. Get payment invoices, pay online
f. Communicate with lecturer

4. Parent Module
a. Get children marks
b. Get children payment invoices
c. Get children class routine
d. Messaging with lecturer

33
 CHAPTER FOUR
4.1 IMPLEMENTATION
The design objective of this solution is to enable lecturers/staffs and the university authorities
manage basic student information easily and effectively. The solution was designed with the
following capabilities (1) It should be a secured system with each category of users restricted to
their own specific roles, (2) Each user is fully authenticated at login time, (3) Lecturers can
authorize and authenticate any course they are teaching for a semester and they can also update
student records with their exam grades, (4) Administrator can get the results and information
from the lecturer supervision management and have it saved in the database.
The scope of this chapter , however is limited to the implementation and the result of the entire
solution , capturing the necessary processes.
The figure below shows the system logon flowchart on how a user can interact with the web-
based solution

34
 START

LAUNCH
WEBSITE

Website
interface
page

Exit Web-
Y
page
STOP

N
Register/login
data

Registration/
Logon

Is
N Login/Registe
r successful

Which
user
category

System / Student
Admin page Page
Lecturer Parent
Page Page

35
4.2 RESULTS

The below snapshots and previews shows the result of the proposed Web-based Educational

Management System solution.

Figure 4.1 - ADMINISTRATOR DASHBOARD

Figure 4.1 Shows the Administrator Dashboard including all necessary menu's and features to

manage all lecturers, students and parents in the database and control the system as a whole.
36
Figure 4.2 - LECTURER'S RECORD ON DATABASE

Figure 4.2 shows the result of the lecturers added to the database, it includes their neccessary

information. Lecturers can either be added directly to the database by the administrator or

register on the database by themselves with the authorization of the Administrator before they

can have access to their profile, as stated in earlier chapters in this project.
37
Figure 4.3 - STUDENT'S RECORD ON DATABASE

Figure 4.3 shows the result of the students added to the database, it includes their necessary

information. Students can either be added directly to the database by the administrator or register

38
on the database by themselves with the authorization of the Administrator before they can have

access to their profile, as stated in earlier chapters in this project.

Figure 4.4 - PARENT'S RECORD ON DATABASE

Fig 4.4 shows the result of the Parents added to the database, it includes their necessary

information with each parents linked to his or her child/children (Students). Parents can either be
39
added directly to the database by the administrator or register on the database by themselves with

the authorization of the Administrator before they can have access to their profile, as stated in

earlier chapters in this project.

40
 CHAPTER FIVE

SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECCOMENDATION

5.1 SUMMARY

In the course of this project research, I found out that a web-based Education Management

makes it more convenient, efficient and produces an accurate Information management generally

in all schools. This is opposed to the manual method, which is stressful, time consuming, prone

to loss and mistakes due to human nature and inconveniency. This will not only facilitate

information processing in the school, but will go a long way in improving the overall general

services in the university, since information department is the pillar post of the schools.

5.2 CONCLUSION

In conclusion, Haven carried out a detailed comprehensive research on institutions, there by

laying down the problems that the institution faces as regards to information management and

dissemination which in essence is one of the paramount needs of schools, a system was designed

which encompasses and counteract many of this problems that was observed on the old system

(manual process). Hence all schools advised to make use of this valuable web-based solution to

improve to a great extent, speedy processing of school records management and school activities

and ensure more stringent data security measures.

5.3 RECOMMENDATION

Having seen the usefulness of this web-based Educational Management System solution, I

recommend the following to schools , stipulated below as follows:-

41
1. They should computerize and provide internet for all the department of the school, to

ensure easy flow of information in the school.

2. To ensure that all the staff of the user department are adequately trained to ensure smooth

implementation of this new web-based solution.

3. Formulation and development of policy guidelines on the use of information, data

collection.

42
 REFERENCES

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Patent Application 10/228,962, filed August 28, 2002.

Olagboye, A.A (2004) Introduction to Educational management in Nigeria. Ibadan: Daily

graphics (Nigeria) limited

Nwagwu NA (1995). The development and management of records in Nigerian education

system, In: Ehiametalor E.T. (Ed.) Data

Daramola JB (1995). Conservation, preservation and management of public records, national

workshop organized for Directors, Deputy and Assistant Director, by the Presidency, Department

of Establishment and Management Services. ASCON, Tapo Badagry, 7: 3-11.

Jack Hawkins (2002) A Core Developer In University Of Colorado, USA.

Nwagwu NA (1995). The development and management of records in Nigerian education

system, In: Ehiametalor E.T. (Ed.) Data

Brenda Rambo (2007) Assistant Professor Of Psychology At Middle Tennessee State University

Taylor, M. 2000. Records management at tertiary institutions in the SCECSAL region at the

dawn of the new millennium. In: Chisenga, J., Chitambo, A. and Onyango, F. (eds).

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Information 2000: a vision for the SCECSAL region . Windhoek: Namibian Information

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Garry Morett Y (2015) Case study on Nigeria 2015 election

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Thomas, P., Carswell, L., Price, B., & Petre, M. (1998). A holistic approach to supporting

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APPENDIX

A. Below are some interfaces in the database solution

Figure A1: Shows the Grade levels and preview page of addition of grades of students in the database

46
Figure A2: Shows the Study materials added by the Admin/Lecturers for Students to download

47
Figure A3: Shows the preview of Students assignment added to the database either by the
Administrator or the Lecturer.

48
Figure A4: Shows the Exam list added by the Admin for Students to know their Exam timetable

49
Figure A5: Show the preview of the Online examination added to the database. It can be added

either by the Admin or the Lecturer

50
FigureA6: Shows the preview of addition of Events that is to take place in the School by the Administrator

51
Figure A7: Shows the Mail/Messages interactions between all users in the System

52
Figure A8: shows the reports of activities taking place on the database

53
Figure A9: Student Dashboard/ Profile Page

Figure A10: Parent's Dashboard/Profile page

54
Figure A11: Lecturer's Dashboard/Profile Page

55