Nearly one million learners risk being cut off from government education funding after a nationwide verification exercise revealed major discrepancies in school enrolment records.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba on Thursday, February 12, 2026, released the School Data Verification Report, which showed a variance of 973,730 learners across primary and secondary schools.
According to the report, the verification exercise began on September 1, 2025. It found that while 5,833,175 learners were registered in the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) at the primary level, only 4,947,271 were verified, leaving a shortfall of 885,904 learners. In junior schools, enrolment in NEMIS stood at 2,430,398, but verified enrolment was higher at 2,973,648, creating a surplus of 543,250 learners. Secondary schools recorded 3,352,884 learners in NEMIS, with 3,265,154 verified, resulting in a deficit of 87,730.
Ogamba said the government invests billions of shillings every year to support free and compulsory basic education as required under Article 53 of the Constitution. Funds for Free Primary Education, Junior School Education, Free Day Secondary Education and Special Needs Education are allocated strictly based on learner numbers captured in NEMIS.
He explained that the verification exercise aimed to match NEMIS data with independently submitted school-level records provided by headteachers and Sub-County Directors of Education. However, the process faced challenges due to incomplete and inconsistent data submissions from some institutions, which delayed authentication. Fourteen schools failed to submit any data.
The report also found unauthenticated learner records, including missing or invalid Unique Personal Identifiers, duplicated or incorrect assessment numbers, and mismatched examination centre codes. In addition, ten secondary schools and 17 primary schools were found to be non-operational due to insecurity, lack of learners, relocation of communities or administrative closure, yet they remained listed in NEMIS.
Further findings showed that 102 junior schools and 84 primary schools were operating below the minimum enrolment threshold set by the Ministry.
Ogamba announced that administrative action is being taken against 28 Sub-County Directors of Education and Quality Assurance and Standards officers in areas where supervision failures were identified. He said some officers failed to report non-operational schools in their jurisdictions.
The Education CS said the report will be forwarded to the Directorate of Criminal Investigations for further action. He added that non-operational schools will be formally closed or deregistered in line with existing laws.
As a safeguard, the Ministry has suspended funding for all unverified learners to protect public resources. Ogamba said funding will only be restored once verification is completed.
“I thank all officers and stakeholders who participated in this exercise and assure Kenyans that the Ministry of Education remains committed to a fair, accountable and learner-centred education system,” he said.
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