Fresh concerns have emerged over the Ministry of Education's transition from the National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) to the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS) after teachers and school administrators reported that learner records they had spent weeks uploading were suddenly marked as invalid.
According to the whistleblower, teachers across the country have spent weeks entering learner information into the new KEMIS platform, despite already having similar records under NEMIS.
The complainant says the exercise required teachers to work beyond their normal duties, often using their own time to ensure schools complied with the Ministry's timelines.
Senior Schools, according to the whistleblower, worked around the clock to meet the Ministry's deadline of 24 July.
The complainant says the frustration came just two days later when schools reportedly found that learners who had already been uploaded and verified were suddenly appearing as invalid in the system.
Teachers are now asking how an entire country's learner database could be flagged as invalid almost overnight after schools had already completed the migration exercise.
The complainant says many teachers fear they will now be forced to repeat the same data entry process despite having already complied with the Ministry's requirements.
The concerns have also raised anxiety over school funding.
According to the whistleblower, some principals are worried that problems within KEMIS could affect the processing of capitation funds if learner records remain invalid.
Schools rely on accurate learner data for government funding, making the integrity of the system critical to planning, budgeting and day to day operations.
The complainant says schools have fulfilled every requirement placed before them and that any technical failures should not be transferred to teachers, principals or learners.
The whistleblower argues that if delays in validating learner records interfere with capitation, learners will ultimately bear the greatest cost through disruptions to learning and school operations.
The concerns now place responsibility on the Ministry of Education, led by Cabinet Secretary Julius Migos Ogamba, together with Principal Secretary for Basic Education Prof. Julius Bitok, and the Ministry's ICT teams responsible for implementing KEMIS, to explain what caused the reported invalidation of learner records.
Teachers are calling on the Ministry to urgently restore affected records, explain the cause of the system failure and publicly assure schools that no institution will lose or experience delays in receiving capitation because of technical problems within KEMIS.
Below is the complaint received.
Good morning, Nyakundi. Kindly hide my identity and highlight this
The Ministry of Education has turned the migration from NEMIS to KEMIS into a nightmare for schools, principals and teachers. For weeks, teachers sacrificed their time, without any extra pay from the ministry, to enter the details of every learner afresh into KEMIS. Senior Schools worked tirelessly and met the ministry's deadline of 24th July. Yet, just two days later, the system inexplicably declared all learners across the country invalid.
How can an entire country's learner data suddenly become invalid overnight? Why should teachers be forced to repeat work they have already completed? Is this confusion being used to justify or delay the release of capitation funds to schools? Is it being used to deny schools capitation? If so, learners are the biggest losers. Schools cannot effectively operate without timely capitation.
Teachers have done their part. Principals have done their part. Schools have met every deadline. The Ministry must now take responsibility, explain why all learners were declared invalid, restore the data immediately and assure schools that no institution will be denied or have its capitation delayed because of problems caused by the KEMIS system.
Teachers deserve respect, schools deserve certainty, and learners deserve better.