Doubt on school verification report

Education CS Julius Ogamba. [File, Standard]

Questions have emerged over the veracity of the school’s audit report released last week by Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba.

In its findings, the report unearthed some 87,000 ghost learners and over 500,000 students yet to be verified in the exercise, painting a picture of deep rot in schools' data.

Over the years, claims of ghost learners and unavailable schools receiving funding from the exchequer have milled and the audit presented an opportunity to expose the extent of the mess.

However, it is emerging that the much-anticipated report may not provide the truth about the schools and learners, as it is mired with several inconsistencies, raising questions about its accuracy

Independent analysis by The Sunday Standard of the report's enrolment data and internal records points to inconsistent use of timelines, unreliable baseline figures, and heavy dependence on digital records instead of physically counting learners. 

Further doubts arise from contradictions between the verified data and national examination registration figures.

At the centre of the concerns is the discovery that different time periods were used to assess primary and secondary schools.

Despite the Ministry of Education collecting data in January and May of 2025, the Ministry chose to use data collected in January to verify Primary schools, but chose to use the May data to verify the Secondary school data.

The variance of the baseline in data verification raises eyebrows.

Sources indicate that the January data for secondary schools matched the verified data.

This could mean that the secondary school data was clean before the May 2025 figures were introduced.

However, the May figures used to verify secondary school students' data show a much larger gap, with a four per cent variance or about 87,000 students more than those accounted for in January.

This now puts the question of the accuracy of the May dataset and raises questions about why the student numbers spiked despite there being no admission that could increase the student population.

Sources at the Ministry of Education indicate that the extra numbers were inflated after senior officials at the ministry allowed students in NEMIS with incomplete data to be included for capitation distribution.

But that’s not all, the number of students verified greatly varies from the number of students registered for assessment under the Kenya National Examination Council (KNEC).

Independent data from national assessment registrations shows millions of learners registered across Grades 3 to 9 in public schools, which are significantly higher than those reflected in the verification results. 

Because examination registration involves strict identity checks, says education analyst Janet Muthoni Ouko, these learners are unlikely to be nonexistent.

According to KNEC, the number of students in junior secondary school (Grades 7–9) is 3,207,950 learners.

In Grade 7, there were 1,086,551 students, Grade 8 (1,069,930), and Grade 9(1,051,469).

However, the report released last week reveals that only 2,951,517 students could be verified.

This means that the Ministry of Education could not account for 256,433 learners captured in the KNEC portal, despite the learners taking assessments and their records captured and uploaded in the assessment system.

In public primary schools, the verified data reveal that only 4,817,694 could be accounted for.

However, in the KNEC portal, the details captured for students between (Grades 3–6) show that there are 4,095,929 learners.

In Grade 3, there are 975,322 learners, Grade 4(1,040,851), Grade 5 (1,040,116), and Grade 6(1,039,640).

The data excluded students in Grades One and Two who were not captured on the KNEC database.

However, with the difference between the verified data and that of the learners registered on the KNEC portal standing at just 721,765, questions surround the possibility of this being the enrollment of learners excluded from the KNEC database (Grades One and Two).

And now questions emerge on how the examination council numbers surpass the verified learners.

Another major concern is that officials did not conduct physical headcounts of learners in classrooms.

Instead, the exercise relied mainly on digital records and documentation checks. 

This could have left out genuine students who attend school but lack birth certificates, identification numbers, or properly updated records in national systems.

Over the years, the ministry has struggled to get accurate data of students as many of them never had birth certificates, hence were not captured on the National Education Management Information System (Nemis) portal.

These students, according to principals, are often in class and not sent to support them because their data were not captured in Nemis.

Birth certificates are a mandatory document for Nemis registration. However, in some cases, students with birth certificates found that their document numbers were duplicated.

In other instances, it was also established at the point of registration that other students had similar birth certificate numbers, making it difficult to register them in Nemis.

This means that a physical count of students could provide more accurate data of learners.

Education specialists note that in many communities, children continue learning while documentation is being processed. 

“Counting only students with complete paperwork may therefore understate actual enrolment and make schools appear to have fictitious learners when the real issue is missing documents,” says Ouko.

Questions have also been raised about schools that have not yet been assessed in the exercise.

According to the report, 1,373 institutions constitute schools that are pending verification due to either submission of incomplete data sets, submission in wrong formats, invalid KNEC assessment numbers and centre codes, schools below the threshold, and non-operational schools.

This means that some learners currently in school are yet to be verified, leaving them out of the school system.

This means that they are not identified by the Ministry of Education, despite their existence, but are not captured.

While releasing the report, the CS announced that the Ministry of Education has suspended the issuance of capitation to the schools until they provide verification details to the Ministry of Education.

Education stakeholders warn that implementing the findings without further review could have serious consequences.

Emmanuel Manyasa, the executive director of Usawa Agenda, says schools may lose funding for students who are actually present.

“Some administrators could face disciplinary action based on incomplete evidence, and national education statistics could be distorted,” he says.

Ouko calls for a more comprehensive approach that combines physical headcounts with digital records.

This, she argues, will produce a more accurate picture of school enrolment. “Counting real learners in classrooms, alongside verifying records, would provide a fairer basis for decision-making.” 

In the report, 26 public primary and secondary schools were listed as operational despite having no learners, laying bare the extent of ghost schools embedded in official education records and raising serious questions about whether taxpayers may have continued funding institutions that had effectively ceased to exist.

Overall enrolment declared before verification stood at 11,616,457 learners but dropped to 11,068,820 after physical verification, leaving 547,637 learners unaccounted for. The Ministry says the discrepancy points to ghost learners, outdated records and the system.

Education CS Ogamba, while releasing the report on February 12, said that at least 34 school heads and 28 senior Ministry of Education officials could face sacking over the ghost learners scandal that cost taxpayers close to Sh1 billion in capitation funds.

According to the findings, inflated student numbers and failure to update the status of some institutions led to an estimated Sh912 million being disbursed to non-existent learners and schools.

Some 14 school heads were facing disciplinary action for failing to submit any data for verification during the exercise, while 20 would be held liable for inflating student enrollment numbers.

The CS said disciplinary measures will include dismissal from service, administrative sanctions and recovery of public funds lost through irregular allocations.

The CS stated that non-operational schools will undergo formal closure or deregistration in accordance with existing laws.

Despite the doubts in its report, the Ministry of Education has pledged to conduct regular data verification exercises and strengthen capacity building for school heads and education officers.