The government is facing questions over the reliability of the Kenya Education Management Information System (Kemis) after admitting that the platform was not used to determine the latest capitation allocation, even as it processed senior school choices for nearly 1.2 million Grade Nine learners.
Basic Education Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
The admission by Basic Education Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa has raised concerns about why a system still being finalised was deployed for a high-stakes national exercise affecting learners transitioning to Grade 10.
Mr Ololtuaa told the National Assembly Public Accounts Committee this week that the latest capitation disbursement was based on data verified from the field rather than Kemis.
“The current disbursement we have done, we actually didn’t use Kemis because Kemis is still being finalised. So, we used the verified data from the field,” he said.
Efforts to reach Mr Ololtuaa by phone and text for further clarification were unsuccessful by the time of publication.
The disclosure comes as teachers and parents report technical problems on the Kemis portal during the final days of the Grade 10 selection exercise, with some learners unable to complete their choices before the deadline.
Teachers said the portal repeatedly became inaccessible or failed to respond, forcing them to make several attempts to access and submit learner information.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Deputy Secretary General Moses Nthurima said the transition from the National Education Management Information System (Nemis) to Kemis had caused difficulties for schools and learners.
“The movement from Nemis to Kemis has occasioned untold suffering to both managers of schools and learners,” Mr Nthurima said, adding that teachers had been forced to seek assistance at sub-county and county offices.
“If the government knows Kemis is not yet fully ready, why should teachers and learners bear the consequences?” Mr Nthurima said.
Kenya Union of Post Primary Education Teachers (Kuppet) Deputy Secretary-General Moses Nthurima.
Photo credit: File | Nation Media Group
He called for manual processing where the system fails, arguing that learners should not lose the opportunity to select preferred schools because of technical problems.
Kenya Teachers in Hardship and Arid Areas Welfare Association secretary Ndung’u Wangenye said principals in hardship areas had reported difficulties, including learners who had not been onboarded onto the platform.
“If the PS himself admits that the Kemis system is still being finalised, why was it used to select Grade 10 learners?” Mr Wangenye said.
“We are being told to make choices, yet some of the schools we want are not appearing on the system. How are we expected to make an informed decision when the information is incomplete?” one parent said.
The concerns are significant because senior schools are expected to offer different subject combinations under the Competency-Based Education system, including Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), Arts and Sports Science, and Social Sciences.
The controversy is especially significant because the Ministry has been positioning Kemis as a more comprehensive and reliable replacement for Nemis. Its performance in the selection exercise has therefore become a test of whether the new platform can support education administration at scale. Stakeholders say failures in learner records could affect not only school choices but also planning, funding and accountability decisions made from the data.
Kemis is intended to provide a centralised database of learners and institutions, supporting functions including learner management, education planning, financing and distribution of learning materials. The Grade 10 selection exercise is among the first major nationwide tests of the system at such scale.
MPs had previously raised concerns over more than Sh103.99 billion in capitation disbursed using learner figures from Nemis that had not been independently verified.
Education Stakeholders Association of Kenya National Secretary and CEO Ndung’u Wangenye.
Mr Wangenye said the government should disclose the source of the field data used for the latest capitation and establish whether it accurately reflected enrolment in schools.
The concerns are compounded by discrepancies between verified learner numbers and government budget projections.
A December verification exercise put the number of learners in primary, junior and senior secondary schools at about 11 million after duplicate, inactive and unsupported records were removed.
However, the 2026/27 budget estimates presented by then-Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok projected about 13.5 million learners — 6,390,414 in primary, 3,621,798 in junior school and about 3.48 million in secondary school.
The primary figure was 32.6 per cent higher than the 4.8 million learners verified in December. Junior school numbers rose from 2.95 million to 3.62 million, while secondary numbers increased from 3.26 million to about 3.48 million.
They also have major funding implications. Fully funding the projected primary enrolment at the policy rate of Sh2,330 would require about Sh14.9 billion, against an allocation of Sh7 billion.
Junior schools would require about Sh54.5 billion for 3.62 million learners at Sh15,042 each, compared with an allocation of Sh30.9 billion.
Secondary schools would require about Sh76.5 billion for 3.48 million learners at Sh22,000 each, against Sh54.6 billion.
