Education Ministry mulls radical changes to curb ‘ghost’ students, schools

The Ministry of Education is considering sweeping reforms to eradicate ‘ghost’ students and schools that have been siphoning millions of shillings in capitation funds.

Education CS Julius Ogamba said an ongoing audit of schools and learners is 75 per cent complete, revealing more than 50,000 non-existent students so far.

“We have about 25 per cent to go and more anomalies are being discovered,” he said on Wednesday when he appeared before senators.

The CS warned that ministry officials involved in creating fake schools and students will be held accountable.

“If resources were sent to a bank for school X, we must establish who signed them off. That is criminal and action will be taken,” he said.

Ogamba said preliminary findings show some schools have fewer than 10 learners but are staffed with five teachers.

Once the audit is complete, he said, the results will guide radical policy changes, including possible closure or merger of institutions.

“In the verification exercise, we are collecting data on student populations and the condition of each institution," the CS said.

“This will help determine whether some schools should remain registered and whether learners should be consolidated into optimal institutions."

According to the CS, lack of reliable data has contributed to chronic underfunding of the education sector.

“When we submit our budget to the Treasury and Parliament, it is slashed because there is no agreement on the actual number of learners in the country,” he said.

To address the gaps, the ministry is also auditing all education-related funds, including bursaries from government agencies, constituencies and donors.

“We want to know the exact amount being spent in the sector. With that, we can analyse whether pooling all resources can deliver free education for all children,” Ogamba said.

Each primary school learner is entitled to Sh1,540 in capitation, Sh15,000 for junior school student, and Sh22,200 for secondary school students.

The ministry also plans to consolidate education funds into a single kitty to enhance accountability and efficiency.

Additionally, the rollout of the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS) is underway to establish a central database for all sector operations.

“We want one single source of truth. Every activity in the sector will have a module in that system. For instance, if we have 12 million students, then book procurement should match that number.”

“Currently, you may find five million learners, but 12 million books are being bought. That is wasteful,” Ogamba said.

Last month, MPs demanded that the ministry issue a comprehensive report on the ghost student audit, including the names of culpable officers and a detailed justification of the JSS capitation.

They also want a list of all schools that received infrastructure grants, and a clear timeline for the Nemis-to-Kemis transition.

INSTANT ANALYSIS

This audit exposes a systemic failure, revealing a potential Sh1.1 billion annual fraud through 50,000 ghost students. While the ministry's data cleanup is a positive step, MPs rightly demand immediate accountability for the culpable officers, not just promises of future action. The huge disparity in JSS versus primary school funding remains unjustified, and the Kemis system's success hinges on addressing the digital divide and ensuring it is not compromised by the same corrupt officials.