An ongoing audit by the Ministry of Education has uncovered more than 50,000 ghost learners in secondary schools, raising fresh questions over inflated enrolment figures and the credibility of school funding data.
Appearing before the National Assembly’s Education Committee on Tuesday, September 16, Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok said the verification exercise had so far covered 17,400 of the country’s 32,000 schools.
“In secondary schools, we have found that more than 50,000 students were ghost students, and we are only at 50 per cent of verification,” Bitok told MPs, adding that the problem appeared more severe in secondary institutions compared to primary and junior secondary schools.
The PS revealed that some schools had declared higher enrolments, which dropped after the ministry demanded fresh data from institutions and sub-county directors.
So far, only 17,400 schools have received capitation, while over 14,000 are still awaiting funding pending verification.
“We get data from NEMIS, the school heads and sub-county directors. For secondary schools, it’s obvious that numbers are higher than what was expected,” Bitok said.
He hinted that the discrepancies could also point to the existence of non-existent schools.
“I cannot confirm or deny that there could be ghost schools, but the numbers have gone down. We are dealing with a lot of data and would like to be very accurate. In a week, we will have clear information on whether there are non-existent schools,” he noted.
Bitok urged Parliament and other education stakeholders to guide the ministry on how to deal with schools and officials implicated in the irregularities.
As part of reforms to strengthen education data management, Bitok announced that every learner will be issued a unique ‘Maisha Number’ that will serve as their lifelong education identifier and later transition into a national ID card once they turn 18.
He added that the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS) will be launched in January 2026.
The revelations come against the backdrop of a special audit by the Auditor General, which found that between 2021 and 2024, public schools were underfunded by Sh117 billion.
Secondary schools suffered the largest shortfall, losing Sh71 billion, while junior secondary and primary schools were underfunded by Sh39.9 billion and Sh14 billion respectively.
The audit also revealed instances of overfunding, with 354 secondary schools receiving Sh3.5 billion more than budgeted, alongside 99 junior secondary schools (Sh30.8 million) and 270 primary schools (Sh79.9 million). In total, Sh3.7 billion was paid out in excess funds.
Legislators expressed concern over the credibility of the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS), which has been central to determining student enrolment and guiding allocation of funds.
