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Education Cabinet Secretary George Magoha has dismissed politicians and education stakeholders opposed to the National Education Management Information System (Nemis) as busybodies.
Prof Magoha yesterday said the system was here to stay and has been successfully upgraded to a 10 GB card to capture all students’ data.
He also warned medical facilities contracted by the government to treat sick learners that it is illegal to deny services to those whose names are not captured by Nemis.
The CS said under the Edu Afya programme overseen by the National Hospital Insurance Fund, every student is eligible for medical service and all the hospitals need is the head teacher’s confirmation.
“I have no apologies to make to anybody as we move along. I have been given the powers by President Uhuru Kenyatta, and shall call for any data that I need. I have orders to evaluate and check that my officers are doing what I want them to do,” said Magoha, before releasing this year’s Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) exam results at Mitihani House in Nairobi.
“When a headmaster confirms that the patient is a student, there is no excuse to deny them treatment. He/she is not your child. It is not the child’s problem to be missing in the system.”
Allocate resources
The Nemis system is used by the government to capture learners' data to enable it allocate resources, trainers and provide medical care.
Magoha’s tough talk was in response to the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) Secretary General Wilson Sossion’s strike threats early this month if Nemis was not suspended.
The union issued a 22-day ultimatum to the government to address outstanding issues before schools reopen in January, including the Nemis, which was launched in 2017.
Other trade unions and teachers’ associations also voiced their reservation with the system after some schools, accused of giving false information on the number of their students, missed out on resource allocation.
But the government said teachers opposed to this system have been submitting fake numbers of students to get more capitation.
Nemis has eliminated instances of cheating, where some schools inflated student numbers to get more funds.
Yesterday, Magoha said come January, the government wants capitation to “human beings who have names and numbers”.
“We want to get clarity to aggregate numbers so politicians should keep off me because none of them gave me a job. I was given (the job) by one person,” he said.
“And when he (the president) is dissatisfied with me, I will be happy to go but for now, I have his full backing and I shall deliver.”
He urged MPs to stop politicising his work.
“Please, keep politics out of my work because I can’t just tolerate it. I have no sympathy for those who politicise what I am doing,” he said.
He, however, admitted that the system has some challenges, but warned that learners should not suffer the consequences.
There has been an outcry that health facilities contracted in the Edu Afya programme have been insisting on every student’s details to be in the system before offering medical services.
Mid this year, secondary school heads claimed more than 800,000 students were yet to benefit from the Sh4 billion medical insurance cover.
Kenya Secondary School Heads Association chair Kahi Indimuli said the insurance scheme has been faced with logistical challenges that have locked out many students.
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