Gov’t unveils team to create new education data system to replace NEMIS

The Ministry of Education has unveiled a multi-agency team to spearhead the creation of a new integrated education data system, the Kenya Education Management Information System (KEMIS).

KEMIS will replace the current National Education Management Information System (NEMIS) and will consolidate all existing student registers from early childhood development to university level into a single, centralised database.

The 15-member team brings together government agencies, development partners, technology providers, and other stakeholders under the leadership of the Ministry of Education.

Speaking during the launch, Basic Education Principal Secretary Prof. Julius Bitok said the piloting of KEMIS will begin in July ahead of full rollout in September.

He explained that the envisaged KEMIS will create an integrated database that will be relied upon to guide education planning and the allocation of relevant resources.

Parents and other stakeholders will also be able to access KEMIS through a mobile phone-based application.

“The rollout of KEMIS marks a critical milestone in ensuring that data-driven decision making becomes the cornerstone of education planning and service delivery in Kenya,” said Prof. Bitok.

He said KEMIS will also make it impossible to manipulate capitation amounts by registering ghost schools and inflating school populations.

“By consolidating all learner data, from ECDE to higher education, into one platform, the system will enhance accuracy, transparency, and accessibility. It will ensure the government has the right statistics on every school to inform the distribution of teachers, capitation, books and other resources,” he explained.

KEMIS will address longstanding challenges in separate registration databases for education levels: Early Childhood and Development Education (ECDE), basic education, Ministry of Education State Department for Basic Education, TIVETS and universities.

It will also consolidate and store data for students, teachers, and institutions. It will also address emerging issues such as data security and privacy and provide a platform for real-time access to data, enabling monitoring, evaluation and analytics on education transitions and other variables.

Immigration and Citizen Services PS Dr. Belio Kipsang said KEMIS will also be integrated with the births and deaths register through the Civil Registration Services and the National Registration Bureau to provide a unique personal number for every learner.

“Under the Maisha ecosystem, we will provide a Unique Personal Identifier (UPI) to every newborn, which will also be used by KEMIS. In the event of death, the UPI will be the death certificate number. This will help us with accurate data on inevitable transitions.”

Members of Parliament, led by Education Committee Chairman Julius Melly, stated that KEMIS will be a useful platform for guiding budget estimates.