National Consultant - Software Developer for Student Tracking System (STS)
OVERVIEW
Parent Sector : Education Unit, UNESCO Phnom Penh Office
Duty Station: Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Type of contract : Non-staff
Duration of contract : 10 months, tentatively July 2025 to April 2026
Recruitment open to : External candidates
Application Deadline (Cambodia Time) : 26 June 2025
UNESCO Core Values: Commitment to the Organization, Integrity, Respect for Diversity, Professionalism
I. Background
Following the success of the first phase of Strengthening Teacher Education Programmes in Cambodia (STEPCam), UNESCO and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) is implementing STEPCam Phase II through $12.62 million System Transformation Grant (STG) financed by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE).
Building on the achievements of STEPCam Phase I, the programme retains a strong focus on enhancing the quality of education in Cambodia towards its ultimate objective of improving the learning outcomes of students. The programme aims to achieve its objectives through four components:
Component 1: Teacher Education, which focuses on strengthening pre-service teacher education to cultivate teaching excellence
Component 2: Teacher professional development, through strengthening continuous professional development
Component 3: Classroom Learning, which aims at building capacity for effective early grade teaching and learning
Component 4: Digital Transformation in Education, focusing on building institutional readiness for the effective use of digital strategies in education delivery in Cambodia
Under Component 3 (C3), the programme will expand and enhance the Student Tracking System (STS) to create a comprehensive and advanced platform. This strategic initiative aims to ensure the system’s readiness for deployment across all schools in Siem Reap province, and a subsequent nationwide rollout.
II. Scope of the assignment
Under the overall authority of the UNESCO Representative to Cambodia and supervision of the Chief of Education Unit, the Individual Consultant will work under the direct supervision of the STEPCam Programme Manager in close coordination with the National Project Officer to provide technical support to the EMIS Department to lead the system enhancement, operations, technical backstopping, troubleshooting and maintenance of the STS system. The Consultant will perform a detailed analysis of the software performance and hardware capacity of the current STS for readiness to be deployed nationwide, with updated criteria and new additional functions, as well as develop a mobile application that is aligned with STS on the website.
The Consultant will work closely with the international Education Data Specialist for the further expansion and enhancement of the STS system. The contractor will work in close consultation and collaboration with the relevant technical departments of the MoEYS (EMIS Department) and UNESCO.
III. Specific tasks
Specific tasks include, but will not be limited to the following:
1. Perform a diagnostic of the current performance of the Student Tracking System (STS) to assess the existing STS software and whether any bugs or errors may affect the performance of the STS and reports, then report these to the DEMIS and UNESCO teams accordingly.
2. Lead the development of the STS mobile application that is fully functional, user-friendly and ready to be deployed to increase uptake of the STS system based on the review of the existing mockup, including:
a. Review the existing mobile application mock-up and design and develop a list of mobile application API functions
b. Develop the STS mobile application (compatible for iOS and Android) by keeping the same functions as the web-based STS, including the new function of Student ID Card.
c. Implement robust security measures to protect user data.
d. Develop STS mobile app user guidelines, based on type of users, guidelines for administrators monitoring the mobile application and development tools.
3. Provide technical support to the EMIS Department to ensure the operational capacity and readiness of the STS to be deployed for the expansion and nationwide rollout of the system, including:
Long Description
a. Review the capacity of the current server and determine to what extent the server can support the current STS and what may be required for further expansion of the STS in line with the STS rollout plan
b. Review the speed and performance of the current database under varying anticipated loads were the system to be deployed nationwide.
c. Optimise the STS software and database where possible to ensure enhanced speed and performance to serve an anticipated higher number of active users and higher data volume.
d. Review recommendations for the hardware specifications, software applications, and options for upgrading the STS web-based application and developing the mobile application
4. Lead the system enhancement work based on the STS development requirements plan developed in consultation with EMIS Department on the recommended improvement of system features and functionalities, including, but not limited to:
a. Improve database schema to include additional student data fields recommended by EMIS Department and based on the STS expansion criteria
b. Modify the algorithm for improved speed and efficiency for importing student score and attendance data
c. Modify the algorithm for mixed-kindergarten to enable the function for facilitating the transition of students who have completed and graduated from the mixed-kindergarten into Grade 1 of primary schools.
d. Create a function in the system to enable schools onboarded onto the system to progress through different stages of the student registration, data recording and reporting cycle separately, to improve the overall flexibility and efficiency of the system functionalities
e. Review current functionality and develop enhancement to improve the efficiency of recording student attendance
f. Develop features for DoE, PoE, and EMIS to monitor status of data entry (grade, score and attendance) at school, district and provincial level.
g. Add additional functions to allow school principals to modify the student score average in English (A, B, C, D, E, F)
h. Develop additional feature to generate visualizations (e.g.., table, charts, graphs) of key student data fields for easy analysis
i. Develop automated notifications for critical data criteria—irregular or low attendance, low grades, or other critical events.
j. Ensure data security and privacy
k. Disable the function that allows student transfers within the same school. The current system permits school directors to transfer students within the same school, which creates confusion and misinterprets the concept of transferring.
l. Enable function for designing Student ID Card with QR code which records detailed information
m. Add additional function allowing the school principal to modify student score coefficients by subject.
n. Add some subjects for secondary school, such as computers, health–hygiene, Life Skills.
o. Update the enrollment function to prevent duplicate enrollments during promotions or repetitions for the next academic level.
5. Provide technical support, troubleshooting, capacity building to the EMIS Department for ongoing operations and maintenance of the STS:
a. Participate in bi-weekly review and work-planning meetings with UNESCO and EMIS Department as required.
b. Provide capacity building to EMIS team on source code and database maintenance, updates, and enhancements.
c. Update the STS system manual giving high-level instructions on the source code and enabling setup of the software development environment on any machine and develop or revise training materials for both the STS mobile application and web-based STS.
d. Ensure knowledge transfer to the EMIS Department and strengthening their capacity in understanding the structure of the web-based STS and mobile application and how to install, backup and maintain the applications
Long Description
e. Assist EMIS Department to develop data and systems security procedures and mechanisms for data protection and safeguarding and prevention of system disruption.
IV. Deliverables:
1. Deliverable #1: by 30 July 2025
a. Proposed workplan for the assignment
b. Report detailing expert technical advice and recommendations for the following:
i. Priority bugs in section III.1 and any new bugs, along with a timeframe to be completed
ii. Performance of the current function of the system, the capacity of current server and determining how far the server can support the current STS and the expansion of STS.
iii. Input to the recommendation on hardware required for the expansion of STS. Activities #1, and #3.a-d.
2. Deliverable #2: by the end of August 2025
a. Proposed STS system enhancement and requirements plan
b. Design and develop a list of mobile application API functions as per key task #2.a
c. Monthly progress report on the list of mobile API function, improvement of database feature and structure, and update on the new STS feature and structure.
3. Deliverable #3: by the end of September 2025
a. The 1st draft of STS mobile application design that is compatible with iOS and Android by keeping the same functions to the STS web-based application including the new function of Student ID Card, as per 2.b
b. Monthly progress report on the updated STS and fully function as per key tasks #4 in the ToR, and STS mobile application design.
4. Deliverable #4: by the end of October 2025
a. First draft of STS mobile application manual and updated STS training materials to include new function of Student ID card for administrators’ level and regular level, as per 2.d.
c. Monthly progress report on the development of the STS mobile application manual and updated STS training materials, and updated of the tasks #5
5. Deliverable #5: by the end of November 2025
a. The revised draft of STS mobile application that is compatible with iOS and Android by keeping the same functions to the STS web-based application including the new function of Student ID Card
b. Monthly progress report on the:
i. The revised draft mobile application (progress, challenges, next priorities) and on other tasks under point #5 in ToR.
ii. Robust security measures to protect user data, as per 2.c
iii. STS mobile app user guidelines, based on type of users, guidelines for administrator for monitoring mobile application and development tools.
6. Deliverable #6: by the end of December 2025
a. The revised draft of STS mobile application manual and training materials for users developed (administrator level and school level)
b. Monthly progress report on the face-to-face mentoring and coaching to the DEMIS team and UNESCO team in managing STS data, including but not limited to, checking errors and fixing them, data entry, running STS reports, mobile application, and new function of Student ID Card.
7. Deliverable #7: by the end of January 2026
a. The final STS mobile application that is compatible with iOS and Android by keeping the same functions of the STS web-based application including the new function of Student ID Card
b. Monthly progress report on the STS mobile application that is compatible with iOS and Android by keeping the same functions of the STS web-based application including the new function of Student ID Card
8. Deliverable #8: by the end of February 2026
a. The final version of STS mobile application manual and training materials for users developed (administrator level and School Level)
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b. Monthly report on the face-to-face mentoring and coaching to the DEMIS team, UNESCO team in managing STS data, including but not limited to, checking errors and fixing them, data entry, running STS reports, mobile application, and new function of Student ID Card.
9. Deliverable #9: by the end of March 2026
a. Monthly report on the updated of tasks as per #1, #2.a-d, #3.a-d, #4.a-o, and #5.a-e.
10. Deliverable #10: by the end of April 2026
a. Final report showing successful completion of all tasks and deliverables in line with the responsibilities under III.1 – III.5, final key documents developed/revised during the assignment and way forward for STS development and implementation.
Final approval of deliverables will be under the authority of the STEPCam Programme Manager, after receiving pre-approval from EMIS department when necessary.
Prior to submission, the Contractor ensures that proper copyediting and proofreading should have been carried out for all deliverables and the relevant templates and formats should have been closely followed. The Contractor may be requested by UNESCO to revise the deliverables if they are determined by UNESCO to be unsatisfactory and/or incomplete with the required standard of quality. No additional payment will be made for any correction of the deliverables.
V. Contract duration, location and other conditions
The duration of the contract will be for a period of 10 months from July 2025 to April 2026, during which the Individual Consultant is expected to work full-time. The Individual Consultant is expected to be based at the MoEYS to provide on-site capacity building and may be requested to work from the UNESCO Phnom Penh Office for coordination with the STEPCam programme team as requested by the Programme Manager. The Consultant may be requested to undertake missions to the provinces across Cambodia outside of Phnom Penh.
The Individual Consultant will be responsible for their necessary tools, equipment (laptop, printer, etc.) and software to complete the assignment. For work sessions at the MoEYS, the MoEYS will provide a working space and access to the internet, printer and LCD projector.
VI. Required qualifications and experience
Education
• A relevant university degree in (management of) information systems, computer science, and/or information technology
Professional experience
• A minimum of 5 years’ experience in development of enterprise information systems
• A minimum of 3 years’ experience in PHP framework Laravel and MySQL
• Ability to develop RESTful API
• Ability to work on some of the following technology/tools is advantage: CSS Bootstrap, Javascript, Jquery, Ajax, Json, React, Git, Docker.
• Deploying applications on Linex and Windows server.
• Proficiency in mobile application development for both iOS and Android platforms
• Proven development background with cited work examples
Skills and competencies
• Excellent planning, organization, and monitoring skills
• Excellent training and capacity building skills
• Ability to develop user guidelines and technical documentation
• Ability to deliver results amid deadlines
• Comfortable with working in a multicultural workplace, ability to work in a team to achieve shared objectives
• Demonstrated experience with Management Information System in Education, and Web security to protect user data
Language skills
• Effective verbal and written English language skills
• Native proficiency in verbal and written Khmer language skills
Desirable qualifications
• Work experience: More than 7 years of professional experience in development of enterprise information systems
• Demonstrated experience in development of STS or education management information systems Experience working with the UN, and knowledge of UN regulations and guidelines
Long Description
VII. How to apply
Interested candidates are kindly requested to click on “Apply Now”, then download and complete the Employment History Form (Word file). At the end of the Word file, the candidate must insert extra pages with the following required information in English:
(Please note UNESCO cannot consider an incomplete proposal that does not include the following information requested.)
1. Curriculum Vitae or Resume
2. Technical proposal (3 pages maximum) explaining the methodology for undertaking the assignment
3. Financial proposal, indicating a monthly rate (in US$), to undertake the terms of reference above. Applications submitted without a monthly rate will not be considered.
4. The contact details of three referees
If you are unable to attach requirements in the system, please inform us at phnompenh@unesco.org
VIII. Selection and recruitment process
Please note that all candidates must complete an on-line application and provide complete and accurate information. To apply, please visit the UNESCO careers website. No modifications can be made to the application submitted.
The evaluation of candidates is based on the criteria in the vacancy notice, and may include tests and/or assessments, as well as a competency-based interview.
UNESCO uses communication technologies such as video or teleconference, e-mail correspondence, etc. for the assessment and evaluation of candidates.
Please note that only selected candidates will be further contacted and candidates in the final selection step will be subject to reference checks based on the information provided.