Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba has instructed the Teachers Service Commission and the Directorate of Criminal Investigations to take action against teachers and education officials implicated in a school data scandal unearthed during the national verification exercise.
The order comes after a government report released on Thursday, February 12, exposed wide-ranging irregularities in student enrolment figures across the country.
The report says that the Ministry of Education made a comparison between the numbers from the NEMIS and the physical verification of data at schools, which showed huge gaps.
Whereas the NEMIS recorded 5,833,175 learners in primary schools, the actual verification on the ground showed only 4,947,271 students, which indicates a difference of 885,904 students.
Pre-secondary schools were inconsistent: the number recorded in NEMIS was 3,352,884, while the verified figure stood at 3,265,154 students, showing a difference of 87,730.
The difference was even larger for junior secondary schools: NEMIS listed 2,430,398 learners, while verification found 2,973,648 a difference of 543,250 learners.
These results raise serious questions about data accuracy and potential manipulation.
Ghost Students and Invalid Records
Meanwhile, the same report also found unauthenticated learners’ records in the system: missing/invalid Unique Personal Identifiers, duplicated assessment numbers, or incorrect examination centre codes are shown for some learners.
Ten secondary and seventeen primary schools were not operational. Some had closed due to insecurity, community relocation, dwindling numbers of students, or administrative reasons-but the ministry was not informed.
The exercise showed that 102 junior secondary schools and 84 primary schools were operating below the minimum enrolment required.
There was criticism of sub-county officials for weak supervision. In many instances, discrepancies that were noted either were not reported or not promptly corrected.
What Happens Next
The report has been forwarded to the TSC for disciplinary action over the data scandal.
Fourteen School Heads who failed or refused to submit the data for verification will face actions. Another 20 heads accused of inflating enrolment figures are also under probe.
Administrative action is also being taken against 28 sub-county directors of education and quality assurance officers in areas where major supervision gaps were found.
The report has been received by the DCI, which will investigate possible falsification of data and related misconduct.
Meanwhile, all the learners not verified have been suspended from benefiting in the government’s capitation funds pending proper authentication of records
Schools found to be non-operational will undergo formal closure or deregistration.
New Measures Introduced
To prevent similar cases in future, the Ministry of Education has directed that data verification will now be conducted every term.
The ministry also announced plans to fast-track the transition from NEMIS to the upgraded Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS).
The latest developments signal tougher oversight in the education sector as the government moves to clean up school data systems and ensure public funds are properly used.
