How to Bulk Import Students, Staff, and Records via CSV

Save time by importing large datasets into Elimu Bora using CSV files — students, guardians, teachers, invoices, inventory, and more in minutes.

When you’re setting up Elimu Bora for the first time — or onboarding a large number of records at once — bulk imports let you bring in your data from a CSV file instead of entering each record manually. Elimu Bora supports imports for students, staff, guardians, fees, inventory, and more.

To find the import button, navigate to the list page for the data you want to import (for example, Students or Teachers) and look for the Import button in the top right corner of the page.

Always use the CSV template downloaded from the import dialog. Column names must match exactly. If you rename columns or change their order, the import will fail and your rows will appear in the failed import log.

Import process

1. Open the import dialog

   Navigate to the list page for the data you want to import. Click the Import button in the top right corner to open the import dialog.

2. Download the CSV template

   Click Download Template to get a pre-formatted CSV file with the correct column headers. Open the file in Excel, Google Sheets, or any spreadsheet application.

3. Fill in your data

   Enter your records into the template, one row per record. Do not change the column headers. Save the file as a CSV when done.

4. Upload the file

   Click Choose File in the import dialog and select your completed CSV. Then click Import.

5. Review and confirm

   Elimu Bora processes the file and shows you a preview. Review the results, then confirm the import to save the records to the system.

Available imports

Import	What it does
Students	Import student profiles in bulk
Guardians	Import guardian profiles
Teachers	Import teacher profiles
Staff	Import support staff profiles
Student-Guardian Links	Associate existing students with existing guardians
Student Grades	Import historical grade records
Invoices	Import fee invoices for students
Billables	Import fee definitions (e.g., tuition, lunch fees)
Wallet Top-Ups	Credit student wallets in bulk
Products	Import your inventory product catalogue
Purchase Items	Import purchase order line items
Suppliers	Import your supplier directory

Handling failed rows

If any rows in your CSV have errors — missing required fields, invalid formats, or values that don’t match existing records — those rows are skipped and logged separately.

After the import completes, check the Failed Import Rows section to see which rows failed and why. Fix the data in those rows and re-import only the corrected rows. Rows that were successfully imported the first time don’t need to be included again.

Import history

Elimu Bora keeps a record of every import you’ve run. You can review past imports to see how many rows were imported, when the import was run, and which rows failed. This is useful for auditing your data or tracing where a record came from.