Many schools have missed out on Government funds because head teachers are unable to use a new system meant to help manage public institutions.
The National Education Management Information System (Nemis) has caused a crisis in schools as their heads fail to use it to provide details of students, which, among other things, determines how much each school should get.
Nemis is a web-based data management system that collects data and information from education institutions, processes and reports the status of designed indicators with a view of providing the sector with a basis for effective management of schools.
The online platform tracks performance mobility of learners and teaching staff to ensure efficiency and effective utilisation of education resources.
"Many schools have received less funds because details of students were not captured in the system to allow for release of capitation grants," Paul Kibet, the director of secondary and tertiary education at the Ministry of Education told the Kenya Secondary School Heads Association (Kessha) conference in Mombasa.
Students’ data
Kibet confirmed that many schools missed the right funding due to lack of students' data.
He said since January, when the ministry started disbursing grants for operations and tuition to secondary schools, many heads had continued to file wrong or incomplete data, which sometimes affected the funding.
Kibet, however, said Nemis was there to stay, and that school heads had no option but to learn how to use it.
Eunice Onyango, a principal from Western region, lamented that her school had been receiving zero funding because of challenges they had faced while using Nemis, and asked the ministry to urgently address the matter.
"It has been a nightmare using Nemis. As a result, my school has been missing out on Government funding. The ministry should intervene,” she said.
Many head teachers also protested against the system they say has seen hundreds of students denied treatment because their details were not captured by National Health Insurance Fund system.
Kessha chairman Kahi Indimuli said many schools had been constrained after missing out on State funding.
“Nemis is good, but there are delays in getting the correct data for all students on the system. This has caused a major problem as far as funding is concerned,” he said.
