Over 250 primary schools fail national data verification exercise

Over 250 primary schools acroos the country have failed to meet basic requirements in a nationwide school data verification exercise.

This exposes widespread weaknesses in education management systems and raising concerns over the future of learner funding, planning, and accountability.

Dated February 6, 2026, an official Ministry of Education (MoE) document titled “School Data Verification Exercise: Pending Primary Schools (To Submit)” a total of 259 primary schools were flagged after their data could not be verified.

The document, compiled under the oversight of the Directorate of Basic Education at the Ministry of Education, lists schools from almost every county in the country that failed the verification process for various reasons. Among the most frequently cited reasons were “incomplete submissions,” “not submitted,” “non-matches in KNEC,” and “non-matches not in KNEC.”

In vsrious entries, the report states that schools were flagged for “incomplete submissions,” while others were marked “not submitted,” indicating that no data was received at all. In other cases, the document records “wrong format,” “inaccessible document,” or “no data for Grades 1–6.”

One section of the report notes that some institutions submitted unusable files, describing them as “wrong format – no details for Grades 1–6.” Another entry indicates that a school “submitted blank data,” effectively rendering the submission invalid.

The affected schools include public, private, faith-based, and special needs institutions. Counties appearing repeatedly in the document include Turkana, Narok, West Pokot, Kajiado, Nakuru, Kakamega, Kitui, Kwale, Kilifi, Migori, and Nairobi City County.

Even schools in major urban centres were affected. The document lists institutions in Lang’ata, Makadara, and Westlands sub-counties in Nairobi as having “incomplete submissions” or “non-matches in KNEC.”

The report also highlights failures in special needs institutions, including schools labelled “Special for the Hearing Impaired” and “Special School for the Mentally Challenged.”

In multiple instances, these institutions were cited for “incomplete submissions,” raising questions about the level of support available to schools serving learners with disabilities.

Education data verification is an important process done by the MoE, in collaboration with the Kenya National Examinations Council (KNEC), to ensure that schools are properly registered and that learner records align with national systems.

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Some schools were flagged as aresult of their records showing “non-matches in KNEC,” while others were listed as “non-matches not in KNEC,” impying that the institutions or their learners could not be traced in examination databases.

The report emphasises that verification failed because of “non-matches in KNEC,” showing the role of examination and learner registration systems in national education planning.

In some cases, the document indicates that entire grade levels were missing from submissions, noting “no data for Grades 1–6.”

Some schools were marked “not submitted,” pointing to failures at the school administration level while repeated formatting and system errors suggest gaps in training and oversight.

The documents also notes instances where some institutions “submitted summarised data” instead of full records, a practice that does not meet verification standards.

In other cases, schools uploaded files described as “wrong format” or “inaccessible document,”.

Although the document does not outline enforcement measures, its language suggests urgency. The repeated use of phrases such as “pending,” “not verified,” and “to submit” indicates that affected schools are expected to correct and resubmit their data.

The document concludes by listing all affected institutions without exemptions, signalling that compliance will be required across the board.

By Joseph Mambili

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