NAIROBI, Kenya — Thousands of schools across Kenya are operating with dangerously low enrolment — and in some cases, no students at all — sparking a nationwide clean-up of the education sector and potential criminal probes into the misuse of public funds.
A new audit by the Ministry of Education has revealed that over 6,000 schools have fewer than 100 learners, while 10 secondary schools have been shut down after investigators found they had zero enrolment despite receiving government funding.
Education Cabinet Secretary Julius Ogamba said the findings point to possible cases of fraud involving “ghost learners” and inflated enrolment data that may have cost taxpayers billions of shillings.
“These schools had teachers but no learners. We are investigating whether monies were released to these schools in the past to determine if there was fraud,” Ogamba said. “Evidence from this exercise will be submitted for criminal investigations if necessary.”
10 Schools with No Students Closed
The secondary schools closed include Kiria Secondary (Nyandarua), Dr Machage Moheto (Migori), Ragia Forest High (Kiambu), Mugwandi Mixed (Kirinyaga), Friends Bulovi (Kakamega), Loiwat High (Baringo), Ngamba Secondary (Murang’a), Sintakara Secondary (Narok), Maji Mazuri Mixed (Baringo), and Fr Leo Staples Girls (West Pokot).
Funding Suspended Over Unverified Data
The ministry has withheld more than Sh1.2 billion in capitation from schools with unverifiable or suspicious enrolment figures.
Out of 23,889 primary schools, only 16,788 were cleared for full funding after verification. A further 3,065 schools either failed to submit enrolment data or provided questionable figures — and will receive only half of their allocation pending further checks.
In junior secondary schools, 2.43 million learners were initially reported, but verification showed that 2.94 million in 20,630 schools qualified for full funding. Capitation to 934 schools was suspended due to missing or erroneous data.
At the secondary level, the ministry had received Sh10.37 billion to fund 3.35 million learners in 9,550 schools.
After verification, 3.2 million learners in 9,540 schools were approved, while 10 schools were found to have no learners and were subsequently shut down.
Teacher Transfers and School Mergers Planned
Ogamba said the ministry will merge schools with extremely low enrolment and reassign teachers to institutions where they are needed most.
“We are keen to clean our data and ensure all resources are used for the right purpose,” he said. “The resources we ask for and decisions we make must be based on accurate and verifiable evidence.”
Audit Triggered by Auditor General
The ongoing clean-up follows a report by the Office of the Auditor General, which found that some schools receiving government funds either did not exist or could not prove they had learners.
During the latest disbursement, the ministry allocated Sh10 billion to Free Day Secondary Schools, Sh5.1 billion to Free Day Junior Schools, and Sh1.7 billion to Free Primary Education — a total of Sh16.5 billion.
However, Sh1 billion remains undistributed pending enrolment verification.
The ministry has pledged to tighten monitoring to prevent further loss of public funds through ghost learners and non-existent schools.
