The Ministry of Education is facing a major challenge after discovering that 2,145 public primary schools across the country failed to meet the minimum enrolment threshold of 45 learners, raising serious concerns about sustainability, funding, and resource allocation.
Furthermore, ten schools in ten counties have already been closed after it was found that they had no learners, exposing the serious inefficiencies in Kenya’s education management system.
The findings are part of an ongoing nationwide audit of Basic Education institutions, which seeks to weed out ‘ghost’ schools and streamline the disbursement of funds to genuine institutions.
“The Office of the Auditor-General reported that some schools that had received capitation from the ministry were non-existent. Following this, we launched a comprehensive verification exercise to determine the actual number of schools and learners,” said Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba appears before the National Assembly Education Committee at County Hall, Nairobi on November 4, 2025.
Photo credit: Dennis Onsongo | Nation
He emphasised that, to promote accountability and transparency, funds will only be released to schools whose enrolment has been verified.
During the third-term cycle for disbursement of funds, the ministry used an enrolment figure of 5.8 million learners in 23,889 primary schools to request for Sh1.65 billion from the National Treasury. Of this amount, Sh1.36 billion has been disbursed to 4.8 million learners across the country.
“A total of 16,788 schools with an enrolment of 4.29 million learners were cleared for full capitation and received Sh1.22 billion,” said the CS.
Another 3,979 schools, with 235,461 learners below the 90-learner threshold, were also paid full capitation, amounting to Sh66.8 million. Additionally, 3,065 schools that failed to submit proper enrolment data were paid 50 percent of their allocation based on the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) data, covering 280,900 learners and accounting for Sh79.7 million.
Students head home after schools closed for the 2024 December holidays. Ten schools have been shut down after it was found that they had no learners.
Photo credit: File | Nation
The CS said it received Sh5.7 billion for 2.43 million learners in 20,927 Junior Schools. However, following verification, only 2.94 million learners in 20,630 schools were cleared for full disbursement — a total of Sh5.13 billion.
“This amount includes Sh78.2 million paid for 56,599 learners in 2,145 schools that are below the threshold, and Sh122.4 million paid to 934 schools at 50 percent of their allocation pending verification,” he said.
Mr Ogamba said 934 schools are still awaiting clearance due to missing or erroneous data, noting that ministry field officers are working to ensure prompt submission of accurate information.
However, for secondary schools, the ministry said it received Sh10.37 billion for capitation for third term based on an enrolment of 3.35 million learners in 9,550 schools.
“The verification for secondary schools is complete. An enrolment of 3.2 million learners has been cleared, and Sh10.09 billion disbursed. Out of 9,550 schools that were processed, 9,540 were funded, while 10 schools have been closed down after being found with no learners,” said Mr Ogamba.
The closed institutions include Kiria Secondary School (Nyandarua), Dr Machage Moheto (Migori), Ragia Forest High (Kiambu), Mugwandi Mixed (Kirinyaga), Friends Bulovi (Kakamega), Loiwat High (Baringo), Ngamba Secondary (Murang’a), Sintakara Secondary (Narok), Maji Mazuri Mixed (Baringo), and Fr. Leo Staples Girls (West Pokot).
The ministry has vowed to tighten monitoring and data verification to prevent loss of public funds through ghost learners and non-existent schools, even as it moves to rationalise resources.
Mr Ogamba further added that the Free Day Secondary School received a disbursement of Sh10 million, Free Day Junior School Sh5.1 billion and Free Primary Education Sh1.7 billion, totalling Sh16.5 billion.
“We are keen to clean our data and ensure that all resources allocated to us are utilised for the right purpose and in an accountable manner. Our aim is to ensure that the resources we ask for and the decisions we make on the use of those resources is based on accurate and verifiable data and evidence,” said the CS.
