Principal Secretary Education Prof Julius Bitok when he appeared before the National Assembly Education Committee at Bunge Tower in Nairobi on Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
A new system that will integrate learners’ data with the Maisha Namba digital identification will be piloted in July.
The Kenya Education Management Information System (Kemis) will replace the National Education Management System (Nemis) platform, which has faced many challenges from the time it was launched in 2018.
Education Principal Secretary Julius Bitok says the system incorporates two key additions – a mobile application for education and integration with the Maisha Namba digital ID.
Under Maisha Namba, every newborn will be provided with a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI), which will also be used by Kemis, he said.
The UPI will also be used to process death certificate numbers and help the government store accurate data.
“Whoever has accurate data is well placed to make appropriate decisions on budgets. We shall support the legislative agenda of the ministry in Parliament to ensure this transformative system is fully backed by the law,” said Mr Julius Melly, the chairperson of the National Assembly Committee on Education.
Prof Bitok formed a team that is tasked with consolidating existing registers of students from foundation learning to university level, into a unified database.
Nemis only has data of basic education learners.
The PS added that the system would provide real-time data access to learners, parents, education officials and other stakeholders through an app.
“It is exciting because we will have photos for every stakeholder, including parents, our partners and county education directors,” he said.
“That is the unifying system we are coming up with,” Prof Bitok added.
Nemis initially aimed to streamline data management in basic education.
It focused on primary and secondary schools to improve funding and decision-making.
However, the system faced many challenges, including data inconsistencies, identity duplication and mismatched records.
Because of this, deserving students and schools could be blocked from accessing government resources.
The system also struggled to align with the competency-based curriculum (CBC), complicating the tracking of learner progress.
Other issues were inadequate training for school employees, fraudulent activities like inflating enrolment numbers, and resistance from some education institutions and managers due to system complexities and errors.
“We are working to ensure the process is easier and more convenient than Nemis. One does not have to visit a school or education office in person,” Prof Bitok said.
“If you need your child’s report, you simply use the app. You open the app, enter your child’s ID and access the end-of-term results instantly. Our objective is to make this process increasingly convenient. We understand a small percentage of people might not know how to use the app, but they will be get guidance and assistance.”
The PS said the platform would digitise and consolidate information from basic education to tertiary institutions and research organisations.
He added that Kemis is designed to cover every educational institution, from early childhood development (ECD) centres to universities, integrating data from sub-county and county education offices into one ecosystem.
This system will encompass the entire education life cycle – from basic curriculum delivery or other foundational learning to tertiary education, and even post-graduate research,” the PS said.
“It will integrate schools, colleges and sub-county and county directors of education into a unified ecosystem. With Kemis, it will be possible to track a learner’s progress from the very beginning to the end.”
Prof Bitok said the system will be officially launched on July 1, 2025, with learner enrolment beginning on July 15.
Nemis will, however, remain operational for one more year to allow for a smooth transition, he told the committee.
“Nemis will continue to be processed on a single basis for the next year. The Ministry of Education will operate both systems concurrently during this period,” the PS told the National Assembly team.
“The system is already set up. It is not completely new as some fear but is building on what we already have.”
