The Kenyan Ministry of Education is facing a significant challenge in registering primary school learners in the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS). According to Director of Education Fredrick Mujumba, about 2 million primary learners have not been captured in the system, out of a projected 7.2 million in public and private primary schools. This has resulted in a significant gap in the government's ability to provide funding to schools.
As of November 2026, the ministry has registered 5.05 million primary learners, comprising 2,615,822 boys and 2,442,600 girls. However, some schools are registered in the system without any learners attached to them. The ministry has tied capitation to registration, warning that schools that fail to register all their learners will not receive government funding for the children missing from the database. This move aims to ensure that funding is allocated based on the actual number of learners.
The registration gap has significant financial implications for schools. Nelson Sifuna, head of the Directorate of Field Coordination and Co-curricular Activities, stated that allocations are calculated from the number of learners captured in the system. He emphasized that complaints about capitation can only be addressed once those learners are registered. This has been a concern for school heads, who have raised issues about not receiving capitation.
To address the registration gap, the ministry has removed the requirement for a birth certificate before a learner's details can be entered into KEMIS. Stephen Barongo, who leads the Directorate of Primary Education, noted that this move aims to simplify the registration process. Additionally, the ministry has made significant progress in registering learners in junior and senior schools, with 3.18 million and 3,259,906 learners registered, respectively.
The transition to KEMIS began in 2024, replacing the older NEMIS platform. Mujumba stated that the ministry is building a learner registry and intends to add a human resource registry alongside its other databases. The registration figures were presented during the Kenya Comprehensive School Heads Association annual conference, attended by over 15,000 school administrators.
Schools that still have unregistered learners have not been given a specific cut-off date by the ministry. However, Sifuna's warning emphasizes the importance of registering all learners to receive government funding. The ministry's efforts to improve the registration process and provide funding based on actual learner numbers aim to enhance the education sector.
The Kenya Comprehensive School Heads Association annual conference, held at the Sheikh Zayed Children Welfare Centre in Bombolulu, Nyali subcounty, Mombasa, brought together over 15,000 school administrators to discuss key issues in the education sector. The conference provided a platform for stakeholders to engage on the challenges facing the sector, including the registration gap in KEMIS.
Key points
- The Kenyan Ministry of Education is struggling to register 2 million primary learners in the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS).
- The ministry has tied capitation to registration, warning that schools that fail to register all their learners will not receive government funding.
- The registration gap has significant financial implications for schools, with allocations calculated based on the number of learners captured in the system.
