In a bombshell revelation that has rocked Kenya’s education sector, a nationwide audit has unmasked 27 non-operational public schools still lurking as “active” in the government’s National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) – potentially funneling millions in taxpayer capitation to phantom institutions.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba dropped the hammer during the release of the School Data Verification Report, confirming that 10 secondary schools and 17 primary schools have been shuttered for years due to insecurity, community relocations, zero learners, or outright administrative closures. Yet, thanks to glaring oversight failures, these “ghost schools” continued to populate official records, raising red flags over massive resource wastage.
“The status had not been reported to the Ministry and continued to appear in NEMIS,” the audit report bluntly states.
The sweeping verification exercise – spanning all 47 counties and covering public primary, junior, secondary, and special needs institutions – aimed to align NEMIS data with real-world submissions from school heads and Sub-County Directors of Education. What it uncovered was chaos: widespread discrepancies, unauthenticated records, duplicated IDs, invalid personal identifiers, and mismatched exam codes.
The numbers tell a damning story:
– Primary schools: NEMIS listed 5,833,175 learners – but verification slashed it to 4,947,271, exposing a staggering 885,904 ghost or unverified learners.
– Secondary schools: Figures dropped from 3,352,884 to 3,265,154, a variance of 87,730.
– Junior schools: Surprisingly, numbers jumped from 2,430,398 to 2,973,648 – an increase of 543,250 – highlighting under-reporting during the competency-based curriculum rollout.
Overall, the audit flagged hundreds of thousands of questionable enrolments, with some sources estimating nearly 1 million ghost learners across levels, potentially costing billions in misallocated capitation funds.
Adding fuel to the fire, the ministry identified 102 junior schools and 84 primary schools operating below minimum enrolment thresholds, questioning their viability and efficient use of public money.
Ogamba pulled no punches, declaring that heads of institutions bear direct responsibility for data accuracy. “Any deliberate falsification, inflation, or misrepresentation of enrolment data constitutes gross misconduct and a breach of public trust,” he warned.
Consequences are rolling out fast:
– 14 headteachers who failed to submit verification data and 20 who inflated figures have been referred to the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) for disciplinary action.
– 28 Sub-County Directors and Quality Assurance officers face administrative probes for supervisory lapses.
– Cases hinting at criminal intent are headed to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI).
– Capitation for all unverified learners has been suspended until records are cleaned up.
– Non-operational schools will be formally deregistered or closed under existing laws.
The audit exposed systemic weak spots: poor sub-county oversight, internet challenges in remote areas, untrained staff, and missing birth certificates for early graders. To fix this, the ministry vows termly verifications, boosted training on data management, and a swift shift to the more robust Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS) with real-time checks and better controls.
“This exercise is about accountability and ensuring that public resources serve real learners in functioning schools,” Ogamba emphasized.
As Kenya grapples with these revelations amid ongoing reforms in education funding and the CBC transition, the crackdown signals zero tolerance for data manipulation – but questions linger: How much has already been lost to these ghost schools and learners, and who will ultimately pay the price?
The ministry insists reforms will safeguard every shilling for genuine education – but only time will tell if the ghosts are truly exorcised.
