Kemis: Second shot at fixing student data
Education
By
Lewis Nyaundi
| May 16, 2025
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Migosi flags off twelve students who will represent Kenya at the Global Huawei ICT Competition in China, on May 15, 2025. The Competition will take place in Shenzhen from May 20 to 24, 2025. [Benard Orwongo, Standard]]
The government’s ongoing battle to eliminate ghost learners and unaccounted-for schools has taken a new turn, as the Ministry of Education prepares to roll out yet another digital data system.
The ministry on Thursday confirmed it is fully embracing the Kenya Education Management Information System (Kemis), set to replace National Education Management Information System (Nemis).
The nationwide registration exercise under Kemis is scheduled to begin on July 15, covering all learners in public institutions—from nursery and primary schools to universities and technical colleges.
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For years, the education sector has been dogged by reports of unaccounted-for learners receiving government funding and institutions inflating enrolment figures to boost capitation grants.
Simultaneously, school heads have repeatedly raised concerns over missing out on funding due to technical glitches and registration failures within Nemis.
It emerged that Nemis was unable to capture details of all learners in schools failing to provide the accurate number of learners in each school.
Kenya Primary School Heads Association chairman, Fuad Ali on Thursday said that schools were receiving capitation for learners registered on Nemis although all learners are not captured in the system.
But the Ministry’s decision to reboot a failed system with only a new name and added biometrics has drawn skepticism from civil society and education experts.
They say that without strong enforcement and transparency, Kemis may become yet another white elephant in the government’s tech-driven promises.
Like Nemis, the Kemis will seek to streamline student data, preventing duplication, and eliminating fictitious learners and staff within public education institutions.
The launch of Kemis comes at a time when the education sector is facing turbulence—from underfunded public universities and controversial reforms in university financing to difficulties implementing the means-testing tool meant to determine student eligibility for state support.
While the ministry paints Kemis as a digital cure to the longstanding problem of inflated enrolment, critics argue that the system is already grappling with issues similar to those that plagued Nemis.
According to school heads, the duplication of data, particularly in birth certificate numbers used in the registration of learners is yet to be ironed—a flaw that previously made it difficult to verify students’ identities.
Basic Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok struggled to reassure the public, stating that the government was working with other agencies to ensure all learners receive a birth certificate. However, Bitok declined to disclose the cost of developing the new system, further fuelling concerns about transparency.
In response, Bitok announced the system would no longer rely on physical documents for registration.“We’re finalising a UPI-generating system to remove dependence on birth certificates,” he said.
Unlike Nemis, the new system will assign every learner a Unique Personal Identifier at birth, allowing the government to track a child from early childhood development through to university and eventually, even in death.